Chapter 3: Red

Zero POV

I doubt anyone can claim they have had a decent nights sleep since we got trapped in the game, but Eren has always slept a lot no matter what. So watching him lie awake now is strange. I go to ask him if he is alright then think better of it. He normally likes to deal with his problems, asking will probably just make him go into defensive mode and I am not in the mood for that. He suddenly sits up and quietly gets out of bed. I close my eyes swiftly and even my breathing as much as possible. I can tell he does not want to disturb me or Armin as he sneaks out of the room.

*4:00am*

Eren came back about an hour and a half after leaving, entering the room with a sigh. His head hit the pillow and he's been out cold ever since.

When he started snoring I couldn't help but audibly groan in frustration because 1) Sleep was going to come less easily now he's started and 2) I found myself wanting to talk to him. But what was there to talk about? So I left him to sleep. I tried to sleep once or twice but every time my eyes closed I saw the faces of the startled people finding out they were stuck here; the faces of people who watched their friends explode into fleeting pixels when they were killed by the boss not to long ago. We were lucky. We all made it, for now.

I know Eren and Armin miss their families, Armin used to cry at night over them, silent tears staining his face and the white cover of his pillow. I am the only person that knew and it still took me at least two weeks to pick up on it. When I spotted him bolt upright with red, puffy eyes from a nightmare. But he always put on a brave face in the morning as if it never happened. Eren just kind of mumbled. It was almost as annoying as his god forsaken snoring.

I sigh and look back at the clock. 4:10am. Why does time pass so slowly when you want it to be morning?

*7:00am*

I had got up around five thirty as I found that I had officially memorized the entire ceiling and that's just sad. I went for a walk to see if any part of the market had opened early but of course that was stupid. Even if you cannot sleep well here you can still rest in bed. So I did a lap of the city. What was weird was that I felt I was being watched, I soon became sure that beady eyes were staring at me from the shadows. But as soon as the sun started to rise the feeling subsided. Must of just been some shady characters still lurking around that decided to avoid me. Good choice.

I then headed back to the others. I opened the door to find Mikasa staring out of the tiny window and Eren messing about with his weapon. Armin's high pitched voice and Asuna's laugh came from down the hall indicating where they were.

"There you are!" Eren looked up and smiled "I was about to go looking for you". He placed his sword back in his sheath and leaned it against the wall. I sat down on the sofa mumbling an apology before opening up my inventory. We needed more money, but no one was willing to buy our stuff for reasonable prices. Armin and Asuna soon called us for breakfast which we quickly sat down for. The only communication normally was through small glances and half smiles, but today we had to train again, which meant we needed to discuss a plan. We have decided to try to come up with a new battle strategy everyday for a week and test them on the boars in the meadows or forests, so then for the next two weeks we practice the quickest and most effective ones.

*9:30am*

"Eren look out!" Armin screamed as the boar raced at a dazed Eren. The idiot didn't follow the plan as per usual thinking he could handle it before we had even done much damage. Don't get me wrong in many ways Eren is a great fighter, his sword skill was high and therefore brilliant, as for his fighting spirit he would never give up. But his ability to listen and observe the situation was somewhat lacking. He snapped out of his dazed state, shooting up he dodged the boar just in time, also managing to slice its side. The red pixels covering the area as a way of showing injury. Clearly annoyed the beast charged again.

Just as I was running over to intercept Mikasa had hit the boar from the side causing it to veer off from Eren and towards Asuna. Mikasa by most standards was amazing. She was deadly with her weapon and would protect the people closest to her with her life. We found that out when we first met her and Asuna during the boss battle. However she does prefer to fight alone, with her strength she probably could, but its still an issue considering we are a guild now.

"Its weak! Asuna hit it from the left then Zero take it out by hitting it square on." Armin's squeaky voice straining to be heard over the boars resentful cries. Although lacking physical strength stuck in a game or not Armin has always been by far the brains. He could make up the most bazaar battle strategy ever but we would never doubt if it would work, for the plain fact that it always did.

Asuna follows through with Armin's plan, hitting it from the left so it will come charging at me. Asuna's skill has got a lot better since joining us and her speed has always been something to admire. After getting stuck in the game she mainly focused on her speed level strength alone will not help you win she had once told us at the dinner table and she sure as hell proved it. Her downfall is that she sometimes hesitates as if she do'sent believe in her own abilities. She had helped a guy fight the boss at the battle and he had said something to her that she has never really told us about. It made her determined to get stronger though.

As the boar gets closer to me I finally draw my sword and even my breathing. 1 2 3... I twist to the right and bring my sword up slicing its head clean off, making it evaporate into the tiny pixels that head for the sky. This was only our second fight today... we must be killing them to quickly for the system to make more.

The good news it that it had dropped meat, the bad news was we will probably have to sell. A shame really.

"Good job guys!" Armin beamed. I used to think his constant optimism was annoying, but now its welcome. After all there isn't much to be happy about here, Armin's happy aura kind of lifts all of our spirits. Even I cant help but let a small smile form on my lips.

"You are to reckless sometimes Eren" Mikasa states ignoring Armin, with mild concern clouding her eyes. "I was fine, I could of handled it" Eren mumbles, obviously ticked off at Mikasa's 'fussing' as he would call it.

Asuna sits on the grass and stares at the sky for a second before turning to Armin "so is it possible or not?" Before we engaged ourselves into training Asuna had brought up a topic that had started buzzing around the people in the village we were staying in. A new update that has not yet been officially announced. Then again there will probably never be another announcement we just have to guess really. The supposed update involves a new kind of threat, more so then the odd animal that attacks you in the meadows, something more sinister by far. No one is actually sure what it is but there have been horrific attacks causing people to fall into a paralyzed state until they explode into pixels and die. Some have lived to tell the tale but disappear a few days later.

Asuna believes the stories but wants Armin's logical opinion as Eren laughed at the idea and my simple statement of "bulls**t" was not good enough for her.

Before Armin could reply a blood curdling scream came from the woods not to far from where we were. Eren's grinning face fell as Asuna and Armin's faces paled. "What are we waiting for?" Mikasa said unfazed by the scream as she turned to run towards it. I ran at her heels and eventually felt the presence of the others behind me, after collecting themselves.

"I hope we aren't to late!" Asuna stated as we got closer to a clearing. As an indication that we weren't to late the scream reached our ears again but this time with more panic and drowned in pain. Mikasa has stopped, eyes wide and mouth agape which was seriously concerning. We all lined up next to her taking in the site. There sat a young girl, no older then eleven chocking out sobs and small screams while not to far away a older girl was in the grasp of a freakishly tall man with completely pale skin. His eyes were the same deadly shade of red then the player sign above his head. A player that killed people for the hell of it. The older girl had stab wounds all over her body and just before we could do anything he slammed his knife into her neck.

Another scream.

I am so sorry! :(

This took way too long and I feel really bad, sorry if it's not that good i'm trying to get better at writing!

I have been really busy but hopefully I will start finding more time to write as I really enjoyed writing this chapter.

Next Chapter: Me and Amber with Kirito's POV!

Lots of love and chocolate,

~Melieboo :)