Warning: I forgot to mention, but this story will have cussing. If you haven't noticed before, you will now. I'm sorry if that offends you. :(
Chapter 9 was really hard for me to write... Just letting you know! Chapter 10 was already written for a long time, but chapter 11 took ages, because I'm trying to focus on my future career. Now, back to the story:
Chapter 10: Recovery
Alexis held onto the bars on either side of her in a death grip. She glanced at her sister who had already graduated from relearning how to walk. Then she looked back to the front and strained to slide her left foot forward. It was only the second day that she had been able to even try to walk. It was only the day before yesterday that she was still in a wheelchair, after two months of recovery time. Alexis hated feeling weak. Both girls had lost a lot of weight: Bella had lost the most during her confinement (a hundred pounds, bringing her down to a healthy weight for her age and height), and Alexis lost fifty pounds (bringing her down to 84 pounds, and underweight). Alexis was now 95 pounds. (Please note that I am not a professional in the health field. Not every body is the same. What research I did shows that with a weight of 134.5, and a height of 5'1", I have a BMI of 25.4 which means I'm overweight. According to that, I can be 99-120 pounds, and be healthy.) Alexis struggled to walk the rest of the four feet of walk space. Of course, she had encouragement from Bella and the nurse that was in charge of their exercise.
Bella called out encouragement. Her sister was still pretty weak. Bella was also weak, but at least she only had to gain some muscles. Alexis had to gain weight and muscles. Bella looked up and smiled at her parents. They were all back together... for good.
...
Every day, Marie watched her daughters grow stronger and healthier. She was a little concerned about how light Alexis still was. After almost a year of being back in the real world, Alexis was now up to 110 pounds. However, Alexis swore up and down that she felt completely healthy, and really there was nothing wrong with her. Marie was finally able to bring her girls home today, so she walked into their hospital room. They were talking, while sitting cross-legged on Bella's bed. Marie spoke, "Hello, girls. What's going on?"
Alexis looked over her shoulder at her mom. "When we were told we were going home, Bella and I agreed that we didn't want to stay here in this town. When I told her where I wanted to go and why, she said she wasn't going to let me go alone."
Marie swallowed hard. "Where do you want to go?" She was worried.
The brunet smiled. "I want to go to Japan. I want to find the guy who I fell in love with in SAO."
"Are you sure you love him?" Marie asked her eldest. When Alexis smiled and nodded, she continued, "Ok. We'll all move. I'm not letting you two go to another country alone..." She was wary of the move, and the reason why, but she didn't want to lose her girls. She had already finished her last day of work at the hospital since turning in her two weeks notice two weeks ago. She quit so she could spend more time with her babies.
The three women walked into the apartment half an hour later and the younger two ran to their room to pack. Marie packed for herself, and got started on packing things that they wouldn't need during the next month. She sent a message to her husband. ~ Tim, please put in your three weeks notice. The girls feel like it's too painful for them to live here and Alexis wants to find that boy she fell in love with. We started packing all the things we aren't currently using. I'm also going to look for a small house in Japan. Love you. ~ She continued packing.
Alexis and Bella walked around their room, putting things into tubs. "I can't wait!" Alexis said, smiling at her sister.
"I know," Bella laughed. She was happy for her older sister, finding true love.
Chapter 11: Meeting old friends
The four of them were finally in Japan. This past month was hectic with all the packing and moving arrangements... Alexis put all of the tubs in her room (with some help from her dad, since the big tubs were heavy). She noticed that the bed, end table, desk, dresser, and bookcase that they had ordered had arrived. "Glad that they are here..." Alexis thought about the placement of the furniture. The desk was in front of the window, the bookcase was to the right of the desk (between it and the wall), the full-size bed was on the wall opposite the window (with the end table next to it) and desk (facing the window as well), and the dresser was just inside the room (to the right, when you opened the door. She liked the layout. It left plenty of room in the middle of the room. There were even two doors on the other side of the dresser. Alexis immediately began unpacking the tubs.
Bella drug a tub into her room. Just inside the door, to the right, was a desk. Her twin-sized bed was across from the door, facing the door, with an end table beside the bed. There was a window in the middle of that wall, a bookcase (to the left of the door), and two doors that she soon found out led to a walk-in closet and the bathroom she shared with Alexis. The rest of her room was bare. Bella opened the tub and found her clothes. She drug the tub to her dresser. As she emptied the tub, she thought of the yarn storage cubes she was going to put in her closet. It was a 2x3 unit, so it fit very well under the bar in the closet.
While their daughters were unpacking, Tim and Marie looked at all of the tubs and boxes in their new living room. Marie shook her head. The problems of moving, especially to a different country. "Well, let's get our stuff into our room." She and her husband drug a tub into their room and began unpacking.
...
Alexis was finally done for the day! She still had a bit to unpack and organize, but she was exhausted! She opened her newer computer, turning it on, and pulled up the search engine. Alexis couldn't wait to find Klein again. Once the search engine finished loading, Alexis searched for anything having to do with SAO: lists of players, who died, who was logged out when the game was cleared, and the real names of her friends. She got in touch with a guy that was in charge of investigating SAO, and she told him who she was. When she asked him how to get in touch with Klein, he told her about being in touch with the guy who was Kirito in the death game and how the main players of SAO were meeting that evening at a bar. Alexis gasped aloud, and begged him not to let them know that she and her sister would be there. She got the directions to the bar (in English) and she ran to Bella's room. "Bella! We can go meet the group from SAO! They're meeting this evening!" She beamed at her sister.
Bella smiled. "Alright. Let's let mom and dad know." She started to leave, but her older sister stopped her briefly.
"Don't forget to grab your ID. They're meeting at a bar." Alexis let Bella go, and ran back to her room. She hurriedly brushed her knee-length hair and put it up in a ponytail. She also grabbed a sweater, since it was a little chill, and then grabbed her purse. Her outfit of the day (since she was moving in) was a t-shirt, jeans, socks, and sneakers. A very simple outfit for Moving Day, but she didn't want to change now, even though she was a little sweaty... because she was anxious to see Klein. Bella came into her room, with her wallet. Alexis turned to Bella, and asked, "Ready?"
"Yes," Bella replied. The girls walked outside, and walked the three blocks to the bar. "I can't believe it's so close to our new house!" She exclaimed, breathing a little heavily.
Alexis nodded, panting slightly. Their asthma was acting up in the new environment. Alexis opened the door to the bar and they walked in. Alexis bent over a little, trying to catch her breath.
Agil looked up from his talk with Kirito and Klein when the door opened. "Sorry, we're closed for a private party." Everyone turned to look at the two at the door.
Bella smiled. She didn't understand what he said, but she could guess... "It's okay. We're actually here to see y'all," she replied in English. Agil looked shocked.
Alexis straightened, and looked around at the people sitting in the bar. She saw a girl that must have been Asuna sitting with the blacksmith girl and the girl with the dragon. She also saw a black-haired girl sitting with them, but Alexis didn't know her. At the bar itself, Alexis saw a black-haired boy (Kirito, her mind supplied) and a very familiar redhead! "Klein!" she exclaimed. She had eyes for no one but him.
Agil looked at the brunet. He recognized the language that both girls used, and could understand them. He thought they looked familiar. Then it hit him! "Pyra? Ember?"
Klein wondered who the girl was, and he wondered how she knew him. Then when Agil spoke, and the brunet nodded absently, he gasped. "Pyra?" Tears came to his eyes. Pyra smiled at him, and when he stood up, she ran into his arms. He held her tightly, burying his face in her ponytail. He couldn't believe that she was really here! 'Wait, she died in the game!' He pulled away from her. "You died!" He looked her over. She had happy tears in her eyes, and a few had slid down her cheeks when they were holding each other.
Alexis looked at Agil. "What did he say?"
"He said, 'You died!'," Agil translated for her.
They all got caught up, with Agil translating for both Japanese and English. They didn't realize how late it was until Bella's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it, "Hey, mom." ... "Yes, ma'am. We'll leave now." ... "Yes, ma'am. See you soon." Bella hung up, and turned to Alexis who was cuddling up with Klein, kissing. "Alexis, we have to go." She watched as Alexis reluctantly pulled away from Klein. Bella smiled.
Alexis' head was buzzing from the drinks she had, but she stood up straight. She looked at Klein. "I'm sorry, Klein. See you later?" After Agil translated for them both, she nodded and left the bar with Bella... waving to everyone as they walked out of the bar.
AN: I hope you love the story! Again, sorry it took so long (especially for chapter 11 to be written). Please leave a review!
