Chap 9.5: We burned the North Pole to the ground.
A.N Hey, I thought that I should add the part from the end of Ep 3 when Christmas is here. Ik that its not Christmas yet, but heres my present to all of you. You can read it at Christmas, or anytime you like. It's yours. Goodbye everyone. Have a good time. ;)
Dec. 24, 2023 Floor 49: Mugien
: Jay's POV :
(There was flashing lights, happy faces, and good cheer everywhere! I had to put on my warmest hoodie because of the cold! Everywhere you went there was happiness and cheer!... Well almost everywhere. I just walked Tia out of the best armories, accessory shops, and restaurants in town. She was really happy through the whole time, it put a smile on my face to see that. It was the first time in weeks since she's been this happy, Tia's been have reoccurring nightmares of seeing her family get killed in front of her, she's always petrified afterwards, waking up screaming. And on some nights after seeing her like that I wish that I would've just killed Dyana right there. But now, she's happier that ever. I paid for everything that night, the new armor, the necklace, and a lifetime supply of honeybuns that she apparently loves, I didn't care, today is a good day.) "Hey! Jay! Why are you just standing there! Come on! I want to go see the Christmas tree in the town square!" I broke out of my trance of deep thought and ran towards Tia, she thought it would be funny to run ahead, but NO! I caught her with her giggling and such and decided to give her a piggy back ride to the center of town.
As we got to the center Tia's face lighted up at seeing the beautiful lights on the large tree. I noticed that it was a Fer Tree. I remembered my mission for tonight, Help Kirito. About a few months ago his guild was wiped out by a trap room, and he's been feeling responsible ever since, I see him around sometimes but never talk with him. He has the devastated eyes of the Gleam. He was hitting hard on the memories, that's never good for someone who's just gotten the Gleam. I decided that he was gonna go for the event boss because apparently the item it dropped was a revival item. He wants to die tonight, or get the revival item, he doesn't care either way. I saw that Tia was getting a bit slippy when I realized what time it was, before Tia almost fell off of me of slumber, I saw him. Kirito was getting up and walking away from a hooded girl calling to him. It seemed that he was headed for Star Gazers Inn, so I followed him. Tia had to sleep somewhere, and if I was going to help him then I needed to know where to go. Hey you, I'm not a stalker, shutup.
I laid Tia down on the bed while lying next to her, she smiled while sleeping and I thought that she was dreaming of her family while irl….. thank you Christmas cheer. I decided to look through my menu while waiting for Kirito to finish getting ready, he didn't know I was coming and I was fine with that. My wandering eyes stopped on a certain name in my friend list….. I got something special for them….
: Floor 45: Erla, Lily's POV :
(I guess that I couldn't eat this 'Cheer Cake' without this, huh?...) "So, Lily, what do you say to you, and me getting out of here huh? I know a nice hotel where we can deck your halls if you know what I'm saying?" This guy just won't leave me alone, he's the 5th guy tonight who asked if I could be they're "Mrs. Claus" for a night. But HE was pushing it. His breath smelled of Rupee Ale, : Yes The Legend of Zelda isn't safe either… : meaning that he was drunk. A smile crept onto my face as I told him in a sweet voice, "So, you really do want me huh?-" I put my hand on his cheek, "-Well how. About. THIS!" I kicked him so hard in the balls that he flew backwards and hit the wall near where his friends were sitting, and laughing. "Now, that's the only time I'll ever touch your "Candy cane" Desperado. Cherish this present." I walked out of the pub into the cold night, I was halfway home when my message box started flashing orange.
(Who's sending me a message at this time?...) Upon opening her message box she saw that it was none other than, Jay. I opened the message and it had a couple items attached to it, before I got them I read what he had sent me, it read:
Hey Lil'! Merry Christmas! I just wanted to say that, and send you a couple things…. The first item was hard to get because of the gem on it… well you'll see, I had to blacksmith it myself though so hope ya like it! And the second one is to keep as a memo. I'll cya around ok? Bye, Merry Christmas.
Jay
I got the 2 items out of the folder, it was a small box with a photo on it, I looked at it and it was a picture of Jay, and Tia at a accessory shop, and they both were smiling, Jay under his gray, and green hood, and Tia wearing a new set of gear, and a necklace with an amethyst looking gem on it. I smiled to see that, they were doing good. I wondered what's in the box… but when I opened it was a mythril bracelet with a….. "A FURMA GEM!?" Is shouted out into the night, attracting accidental attention from bystanders, I said sorry to them while putting it on, jewelery like these are S-Class rare item's and sell for a high price. It had some bonus stats and I checked it out, I could NOT believe what I saw, it had these extra's : Base health increased by 10%, (Darkness, and Light)elemental Def raised by 25%, and Evasion, and Base Defense increased by +50. It's name is what took the cake though. It was called 'Icarus's Forgotten Memories'.
I have only heard of item's like these. I've never seen one before though….. He really is fantastic. "….Thank you, Jay." I said quietly while beginning to walk home again.
: Floor 49: Mugien, Jay's POV :
As I sent the items to Lily I heard a door open and close. It's time to go. I got up from the bed, trying not to wake Tia, and changed to my warmest gear, and Flame Bearer Twin Gauntlet's. I checked my level and saw that I was level 68… that's abnormally high for anyone. But Kirito is higher, he's a level 70, I'll catch him though. No doubt. I got out of the room, locked the door, and placed a sleep trap on the outside of the door, just in case anyone tried to get in.
I saw Kirito walk to the teleporter and he went to floor 35, and I followed, he didn't notice me, he didn't notice anyone.
: Floor 35: Forest Maze :
Kirito walked through the forest while staring at his map, I jumped through tree's hiding from sight. Then he stopped and was about to go right, I decided to jump down, I landed by his side and he told me without looking up "I didn't even notice you. But go back Jay, this isn't your war." Kirito's expression went even more somber than before as he told me that. I just looked at him, my eyes had changed because he had reminded me of my past… I just smiled. "Oh, yeah? Say's who? Your feeling guilty for that guilds death, and you act like a depressed person everyday….. believe me. I've been there one time too many. Don't reminisce on it, it'll only make it worse, ok? But it's-" Kirito dropped the map at that and swung at me, I blocked a bit slow and had to block with my arm, my health dropped by 150. His eyes didn't change when he had the Gleam, no ones eyes did. It was only mine. He stared at me with a furious look and said, "I can't just forget it dude! Not everyone can kill, or see someone close to you die and not feel anything like you can! I bet that nothing like that's ever even happened to you! So shutup!" Kirito yelled those last parts at me with anger.
I stared at him intently, and spoke in a quieted tone, "You wanna bet? Here's a little fun fact for you, two even, I have felt that way before, and don't think that after all these years I still don't blame myself for it. How about a story, yeah? Yay story time! Once upon a time in a mystical land called America, a young boy and his father are walking into a magical place called Walmart! They were there to get items for a voyage to go across sea's to a place that you may know called Japan! Once they got their items for the long journey they went to the miracle place called the checkout counter, but before they got the items a man in a gray hoodie came walking in, but alas! He was a badguy! The man pulled out a sharp military knife, and threatened to kill the woman at the counter if she didn't give him money. But it turns out that the father was the hero of the story, he confronted the man and tried to make him calm down….. but the man just smiled, and killed the hero by stabbing him in the stomach multiple times. And the boy just sat there and watched, and watched, and WATCHED with a horrified face. The cashier woman saw this and screamed loudly startling the bad man, making him drop his blade and he started to strangle the woman….. the boy got up, grabbed the weapon, and walked towards the man… the man stopped to look at the boy, grasping his weapon firmly, the man said "Hello little boy, OH! I see that you have a new toy! But, alas it's painted red, may I please see it?…!-" The man stopped to see the boy stab him in his knees, making him fall, the boy opened his eyes to the mans fear to see two white eyes looking at him, the boy spoke slowly…"That's why I'm mad… my favorites color is green mister. Now, would you like to go night, night like how you made my daddy?" Before the man spoke the boy had already put the knife through the man's neck, killing him slowly, all the boy did was put a finger up to his lips and say 'shhhh…'but the boy fell backwards after doing this, he was very tired for some reason. And all three of them fell asleep right there…. But only 1 woke up. Story over. My character colors are gray, and green. Put the pieces together."
Kirito only calmed down, and said, "Ok, fine. You're here to stop me right?" they both got to the next teleporter due to Kirito's map, and they started running once they saw the Large Fer Tree, but teleported before Jay responded. He just put his hands up in a confused motion and laughed while saying, "What? No! I just came to help you get out of your sorrow, and to help kill that boss. You can have the revival item… though, I'm confused. It's been like 3 months since your guild died, right? Sorry about that btw, but if we die instantly after our health drops to 0 than how would tha-!" Jay was cutoff by a whole group spawning in the field near the teleporter, it was a group of 6 people with a spiky red headed guy in the front, "Klien?..." Kirito spoke under his breath (So his names Klien, finally, ive seen him on all the boss raids but never spoke to him…) Klien decided to speak up, "What's up?" He sounded non- chalont but… we never knew could we? "You followed me too?" Kirito said to his apparently well known friend.
Klien spoke again with humor this time, saying " Of course! You after the revival item aren'tcha? Oh and it's that Twin Gauntlet Savior guy, what's up?" Kirito spoke again, a little more somber than he already couldn't have been "Yeah." Klien just opened fire on this one, "Don't go risking your life for a rumor that could turn out to be bogus!-" Kirito didn't flinch at that, "- Man, you can't be messing around in this death game, once your health hit's 0 your brain get's fried an-!" Kirito cut him short with a cold "Shutup." Klien took offense at that and said more "I'm trying to get you to stop with all of this stupid soloing, but it seems that the Savior beat me to it,-" I responded quickly, "Nah, I'm not stopping him, he can sprint to his death all he wants but he can't expect me to trip him and make him stop along the way, BallsDeep69." Klien looked at me confused and said "My name's Klien…" I just laughed and said "Ha! No it's not." : You get a cookie if you got that reference. It's Snickerdoodle! :
He…. Didn't know how to answer me with that. But continuing on he spoke worriedly, "… Ok, But Kirito join up with us, whoever get's the drop, keeps it, no hard feelings. Hey, that's fair, isn't it?" (Oh, thanks. And I'm left out. Great…) …Kirito delayed to respond but finally spoke up saying " But then there'd be no point. I have to get that item." He grasped his sword hilt, threatening to pull it out, all of Kliens group tensed up, but he just backed them down and said "Think about what your doing Kirito, it's suicide! And I can't let you die like that! Come on!" I unsheathed my blades just as fast as Kirito pulled out his sword
A bunch of players started to spawn around us, (Kirito must've sensed em' too…) I thought as Kliens group backed up into our little circle full of happiness, and seldom! As we all bunched together Kirito spoke to Klien saying, " I guess that you were being followed too, huh Klien?" And the red headed Katana weilder just responded with humor, and nervousness " Uh-Huh, it sure looks that way."
A few of Kliens friends tarted to talk "It's the Holy Dragon Alliance…" Another spoke up and said "They'll do anything for a rare item, no matter how shady!" I chimed in "Slim Shady?" But the first guy just sounded confused, stuttered but answered, "W-What?... Never mind, What're we gonna do?!" : Play Dramatic music for Kiritos one awesome line : "… You Bastards." While gritting his teeth in anger. I was about to attack when Klien suddenly bursted out yelling, " Grrrrr! SCREW these guys! Get out of here guys!" He yelled to the both of us, Kirito was the first to answer, "No way!" And I followed up with a "And leave this party? No way, this place is about to BLOW. Hey HDA (Holy Dragon Alliance) guys, which do you prefer me to do first, for me to pee on your graves, or for me to dance on them?" A few of Kliens friends started to laugh, until the first friend said, " Get out of here, we'll hold 'em off. Get going!"
Kirito, and I hesitated at first, but then we just put are weapons away, and went for the portal, along the way a few HDA guys tried to stop us but mid- run I jumped, and did a front flip, mid- air I killed all 3 with stabs to the face from 'Sword Downpour' (Hmm…. It's been awhile since I've used a sword skill in battle…). Once I got down Kirito went through the portal and I followed suit, leaving that area I heard the sound of battle… this world is terrible.
We approached a large tree glowing a beautiful blue essence…
Suddenly we both heard a loud bell that chimed 11, no 12 times. Then a distant, and familiar ringlinging could be heard in the distance, my face got a cheery expression upon hearing this and I said to Kirito, " HUUUUUUUH! Kirito! Santas coming! Santas coming!-" I jumped up and down while giggling wildly, suddenly two lights appeared in the sky and down came a large body, I ran forward jollily yipping "Santa! Santa! It's so good to see y-" But was cutoff by the large body crashing down from the sky, sending snow in my face, but me and Kirito stood our ground. As the large creature came into view, I saw it's name 'Nicolas the Renegade'. I ran forward hugging it's leg saying wildly, "Santa! Santa! Ok,ok! I want a pony, and some new legos, a new hood just like this one but better! And I want a-!" Saint Nick just…Wow. It saw me down there on the ground, and just kicked me off his leg, sending me flying towards a tree, I yelled mid- air "I didn't want the power to fly, but oka-!" I smashed my back on the tree mid-sentence cutting me off short.
I got up and stumbled a bit straightening my back while walking to Kirito who was just laughing a little bit, As I got to his side I told him with a confident face "Okay, part 1 down! Got you to feel better! And 2….. let's make him pay for not bringing me my presents." After seeing my expression change so quick he remembered his mission, in looking at me, then Nicolas, Kirito pulled out his sword, and spoke determined, "Let's do this." Nicolas cracked his neck to the right, and swung his axe at us when we rushed forward, shouting battle cries to our death.
: Back to where Klien and the others are :
Klien and his group are sitting down exhausted after defeating all of the HDA guys…
Klien's breathing hard, but suddenly the teleporter starts to activate again, and he looks up to see Jay, and Kirito walking back to them, Klien lightens up and yells "Hey! Kirito! A-?" He stops as the two get closer to him to see that they both have faces of darkness. Kirito get's closer and throws the item to Klien, saying " There that's the revival item…." But me? I just healed everyone, and gave them each a fairly large amount of money before saying, " Before I couldn't finish what I was saying… if were supposed to die immedietly after our health drops to 0… then how the hell is that thing gonna work?... Goodbye, Klien, Kirito. Screw the cheer."
I took out an teleport crystal, and went back to the town of where Tia was, (I'm sorry everyone… especially Kirito… we can't live happily here… it's not possible…) I got up to the door for me, and Tia's room… I lingered… (It wasn't all that bad…) I thought while smiling, as soon as I touched the doorknob I started to feel….. strange…..! (The ….. sleep trap…..) I swayed back and forth…. Slowly fading away…. I fell over hard onto the hallway floor…. "I…. still didn't get a present from….. anyone….." And at that I passed out, dead asleep.
: Truly ending EP 3. Thank you. Merry Xmas :
A.N Or whatever time of year it is for you guys, ya know whenever you're reading it! I didn't actually think on adding the part with Kirito because I wanted to make it short…. This is the 2nd longest chap so far. But thanks, and I will update soon, or when I can so be on the lookout! Cya.