"I'll ask you again. What the hell do you think you're doing?" Red asked, her voice raised in frustration. I would've explained, but I was having trouble responding at the moment. My brain was going into overtime trying to remind myself that, yes, I was still alive, and that, yes, I had just been saved by two beautiful women.
Red raised her hand as if to slap me again. My face was still stinging from the previous smack, so I quickly gathered my rather sparse thoughts and began talking.
"I'm fighting Ricochet," I said. Rhythm gave a loud cough. "Oh, and Rhythm too I guess," I added.
"Yes, I can see that," Red said dryly. "Would you mind telling me why you're fighting them?" she asked, continued her interrogation. Her fierce green eyes were delving into my mind, and I was suddenly beginning to question my previous, violent actions. Why had I thought that fighting Ricochet would be a good idea?
"Ricochet killed some… friends," I managed to say, my gray eyes smouldering in the remains of my earlier anger.
"Ricochet physically killed your friends?" Red asked, her voice sounding incredibly sceptical.
"Well, no, it wasn't him that actually killed them. But it's his fault they're dead." I replied, but my excuse was beginning to sound weak.
By now, all 80 other occupants of the room were staring at the small, entwined group of three guys and two girls. I supposed that to them this must be as entertaining as watching a movie. Ricochet and Rhythm were holding back their assault, content to listen to my excuse. Ricochet in particular looked very interested.
"Do you know anything about this?" Rhythm asked Ricochet, who shook his in response. Red looked at me with judging, green eyes.
"Well, I suppose he might not know anything about it. I don't think he purposefully sent those guys after us," I said, my voice more of a mutter than actually speech.
"What guys are you talking about?" Ricochet asked.
"I don't know their names, but they were part of your Serious. They chased us down in your name, trying to claim glory," I said bitterly. Memories of Burger, Jaxx, Thrash and Whisker flooded into my mind. My hands gripped Grasswhistle tightly, until the pain sensors in my body went off, and a feeling of immense discomfort, often confused with actual pain, flooded through my body.
"And where are those Serious now?" Ricochet asked. He didn't look happy that some of his Serious had supposedly gone out, provoked and attacked a group of players without his knowledge.
"They're gone," I answered simply, not really wanting to go into more detail. The battle had been bloody and quick, with players resorting to desperate measures to survive. It had not been a pretty scene to watch, and the recollections and memories of it were just as horrible.
"I see," Ricochet said absentmindedly. "And you don't know their names?" Ricochet asked, confirming this lack of information.
"I'd know them if I saw their faces, but I guess that's a bit hard to do now," I replied, bitterness and anger layering my voice.
"You have no orange player marker though, you couldn't have killed them," Crystal said, jumping into the conversation.
"Yes, that's because I didn't land the killing blow on any of them. I just had a few friendly fire incidents," I explained.
"Then who killed them?" Red asked, displeasure colouring her voice. I wondered if she was angry that I had almost been murdered, or if it was that I had almost murdered someone else. If there's one thing Red doesn't like, it's murderers.
"Some friends," I replied vaguely, not willing to sacrifice the identities of Prince and Iris.
"Who are these friends of yours Sirius?" Ricochet demanded, glaring at me.
I remained silent, not giving in, even after Red and Rhythm's pointed glares joined Ricochet.
"It was us," a voice behind me said, and I turned around to see Prince and Iris walking up to our small gathering. The 80 or so players around the room began muttering as they realized just how confusing and intricate this scene was becoming.
Ricochet and Red's eyes glanced upwards at the orange player markers above Prince and Iris's heads before their faces changed to an expression of contempt.
"Murderers," Red spat. Prince sent her a blank look, that said far more than one would expect, while Iris muttered some profanities under her breath. I groaned heavily. Why did Red always have to act like this?
"Red, they did it in self-defence after they watched four of their friends murdered. They are not the bad people in this situation, alright?" I said angrily, reprimanding her. She flushed in embarrassment as she pulled the pieces together, and realized what she had just said. She looked at them and murmured a soft apology, to which neither Prince nor Iris truly accepted.
"So, you're saying these two killed some of the Serious?" Ricochet asked, still trying to figure out the details.
"Four of them, to be precise," Prince said rather savagely, his lips curling up in a sadistic smile.
"Well, they're not my Builders then, I can tell you that. I haven't lost a Builder since the last floor boss battle," Ricochet said, and suddenly the whole situation became so much more complicated.
"They knew you though. They were there when we had our argument about Perilous and the threats," I explained to Ricochet, trying to convince him that the murderous, and now dead, Serious had been under his command.
"They weren't Builders in that room at the time though. They were just players I invited to be witness to the argument that I had known was certain to break out when you arrived," Ricochet said. I felt like this situation was slowly being turned on me. Had it been me making the mistake this whole time?
"So you're telling me that those Serious weren't yours?" I asked Ricochet, to which he nodded his head in confirmation, "so who the hell do we blame for this then?" I shouted, frustration boiling up inside me. I wanted revenge, and I had thought that revenge was going to be dealt through Ricochet. Now that revenge was taken away from me, I was left feeling irritated.
Before I could vent my anger however, Red's open palm came up to my face, and a loud smack reverberating around the room as her hand came into contact with my cheek. For an instant my whole body threatened to lose control, and to attack Red. It would have been so easy, so quick, so relieving…
But the next instant I was under control again, and the sudden, but violent thoughts were nothing but a sickening memoir.
"Thanks Red, I needed that," I said, honestly grateful to her less then subtle approach in calming me.
"Anytime," she said, her eyes avoiding looking directly at me.
"Oh! Oh! Can I try Sirius? I've always wanted to slap you," Crystal said, way too enthusiastically for my liking.
"You can bugger off. You've done your job here, haven't you?" I said to Crystal, not in the mood for her joyful antics. Maybe later tonight when I could relax I'd be more willing to joke around.
"What are you doing Sirius," a loud voice bellowed from behind me, "you told me you were going to fight Ricochet, not gossip with him." Arthur was strolling towards us looking rather disgruntled. Martin was close behind him, and he gave me an apologetic shrug as they neared.
"And as I said to you when we met, I'm not anyone's puppet. You can't pull my strings, and I don't like the tune you currently want me to dance to," I said, looking at the wizened man I had recently looked up at in awe. Now he reminded me of nothing but a greedy, power hungry man.
"Why… you… You agreed with me! You agreed with me when I said Ricochet would doom us all! Why are you siding with the fool now?" Arthur shouted at me, and I could almost imagine the spit spraying from his mouth. It was fortunate that SAO hadn't programmed for saliva spray.
"I agreed with you for simplicity sakes. Just because I nod my head doesn't mean I agree with your damned ideas," I said, quickly growing bored of talking to this man. "Besides, I'm not siding with Ricochet," I turned around to glare at the blond haired man. "I still greatly dislike the way he treats the Living."
"I told you, I'm trying to escape this world as fast as I can, we can't afford to waste recourses on the Living," Ricochet said vehemently, desperately trying to explain.
"And I told you, we're stuck here for at least a year. You can't just deprive 7000 players of life for that long just so we can change worlds again," I argued back, but I knew that at this point in time, neither of us would be persuaded.
"So you're leaving us amigo?" Martin asked, sounding rather disappointed. I nodded my head, and Martin reluctantly let it go. Unfortunately, Arthur was far clingier.
"What are you talking about? You can't just leave, you're one of my Knights," Arthur complained.
"Try and stop me," I said to him, finally sick of talking to the old man.
"Don't worry, we're staying with you, old man," Prince said to Arthur, and Iris nodded her head in agreement. Arthur looked anything but relieved at the pair's decision.
"What are you talking about? I never wanted you little murderers here in the first place. You can't just decide to stay," Arthur said, venom in his voice. He was growing extremely tired of players undermining his authority.
"Try and stop us," Prince said mockingly, giving me a quick grin, before heading back to stand with the other Knights. As he walked away he shouted over his shoulder, his words directed at Ricochet.
"Sirius may have forgiven you Ricochet, but I haven't. I will get my revenge for my friends, and you will suffer for it."
Ricochet looked like he was about to argue, but I cut him off. "Don't even think about it, you deserve that," I said to Ricochet.
"Damnit Sirius! Why are you always doing this to me? Can't you just forgive me and let it be done with?"
"I have forgiven you, Ricochet, I just haven't forgotten yet."
Ricochet gave me one last, harsh look, and with a brief call to his fellow Serious, he pushed past me to the stairway that led to the next floor. Rhythm strolled by me, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but he decided against it and marched quickly to catch up to Ricochet.
"Come on, let's go," I said to the two girls who had saved my life, and we followed the large herd of players making their way up the stairs to the ninth floor.
The stars flickered silently above in the night sky. The intricate programming caused the small specks of starlight to shine as bright as the stars that one would see if they were watching from the middle of an Australian desert. In the middle of nowhere, as some might say.
But I wasn't in the middle of a desert. Tall trees with deep green foliage surrounded me. There was a large, shadowing, rough bark tree every ten meters or so, and the space between was covered in small, leafy shrubs, also of a deep emerald green. A decaying leaf-like carpet, displaying shades of dirt brown and oak gray, covered the floor.
This was certainly not a desert. In fact, it didn't really remind me of anyplace in Australia I'd ever visited. If anything, I would have said it reminded me of a North-American, probably Canadian, landscape. Not that I'd ever been to the northern hemisphere before, but I'd seen plenty of wondrous images through the Internet.
The Internet was something of the past now. Ever since I'd been stuck in here I had lived without an online search engine. Hell, had I ever taken that one for granted? To simply have the desired information at the tip of your fingertips after a few button presses. That was magic.
Living in this world was, despite the incredibly powerful engines and machines visualizing and sensing the surroundings for my brain, in some ways like living in a world of obsolete technology. It was the basic things that were missing, like the Internet, mobile phones, microwaves and air conditioning.
Looking up at the bright, twinkling stars, surrounding only by nightlife and trees, I sighed as I longed for the conveniences of the other world. The view here was beautiful, and the landscape was incredibly diverse, but it just wasn't enough.
A faint crackling of dry leaves and twigs behind me alerted me to a presence. I glanced over my shoulder and smiled as I saw Red lithely stepping towards the giant log I was sitting upon. She slid her legs over the collapsed oak and sat close beside me. Her colourful green eyes traced the sky, just as I had done moments ago.
"It's pretty, huh?" I said, while staring at her pale face that shone in the moonlight. Of course, I had been talking about the stars though, and most certainly not about her.
She hummed in affirmation, a soft, pleasant sound that I found strangely addicting. After a few more minutes of stargazing she tore her eyes off of the brilliant canopy and faced me.
"Are you alright? You've been out here for about an hour now. Lily and Crystal are starting to get worried," She paused a moment, her lips scrunched up in contemplation. "Goldor too. I think, anyway. I can't quite understand him like you can, but he seems to be missing you."
I smiled, thinking about the small group of friends I had made in this online world. It was strange to think that a few months ago I debunked online friends, thinking them fragile and useless. Now look at me. My 'real' friends had left me one way or another and I felt more at ease with these online strangers than I had with almost anyone else in my life.
"I'm fine," I said, with a small smile. Red didn't appear satisfied with my response.
"Don't you 'I'm fine' me. I know for a fact that's a load of…" she trailed off, not wanting to swear.
"Bullshit?" I proposed, to which she nodded, a wry smile on her face. "I guess you're right. I'm just thinking about the other world."
Red fell quiet, and I knew that my words had just spurred similar thoughts in her head. She too seemed to be reminiscing about the other world.
"Do you miss it?" she asked, her gaze once again on the stars.
"The other world?" I asked, to which she gave a small nod. "Of course. I lived there for seventeen years, how could I not miss it."
Red looked guilty as she heard my answer. She began to speak in a soft, quiet voice, that I had to strain my ears to hear properly.
"I don't miss it. I don't miss the other world. I've never been able to-" she paused, the word on the tip of her tongue fading. She gave a small cough before continuing. "I've never had so much freedom before. This world is incredible."
"Did you know I was a Beta? Of course you did. I loved the Beta so much. To be able to live a new life in another world, in another body. It was all so much. I knew this game was my calling. So, just like every other Beta, I dove into this world in eager expectance to play the real thing." She fell into silence. I desperately wanted to hear more. I wanted to know more about the mysterious Red. When it appeared that she would not talk any more without some urging, I spoke up.
"And just like every other Beta you became trapped in this world," I said quietly.
"Not just the Beta's. Everyone was trapped in this prison. The difference between me and everyone else though was that I wasn't disappointed. I was happy. No, I was more than happy. I was ecstatic, overjoyed, euphoric." She fell silent again, but I could tell she was about to speak more, just that she needed to compose herself.
"Do you remember when we talked about having a hero-complex? I don't blame you if you don't. It probably didn't seem important to you," Red said, her voice sounding apologetic.
I smiled at the memory that floated in my mind. It was the first time I'd ever had a proper conversation with Red, in the stone mansion on the fifth floor.
"When I learnt that I was trapped in this game, I realized that I had a second chance at life. I could be whatever I wanted. Whoever I wanted. So I decided to be a hero," Red said, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment.
"Yeah, you and two thousand other players," I said with a small laugh. "Sorry," I quickly said, apologizing when I saw her downcast, flushed face.
"No, it's fine. It was childish. I was stupid. And… umm… Sirius?" She asked, her voice tentative.
"Say what you want, I won't laugh this time," I promised, and I meant it. I always kept my promises.
"I'm sorry," Red said, her head hanging low and abashed. "I'm sorry that I made your life so horrible for the first few weeks. I was trying to be a hero, and trying to stop the bad guys." She gave me a wry, sad smile. "As it turned out, you were the hero, and I was the bad guy."
My heart was beating erratically. I couldn't tell if it was pounding rapidly or pumping slowly. My heart was going out to this girl who had tried to kill me several times. My heart was going out to this girl who was near to bursting into tears. I didn't know what to say. I never knew what to say with girls. That's why I'd yet to have a proper date.
But then I remembered a promise I'd made. A promise I made a time ago that felt like years, but was only a few weeks ago.
"I thought you said you forgave me for that," Red said, annoyed that I had not dropped the topic yet.
"I did forgive you," I said while grinning, "I just never chose to forget about it."
"What will it take to make you forget?"
My features grew serious as the mood of the situation changed. "If you tell me your reasons for why you were so concentrated on catching me."
She'd fulfilled her side of the promise. Now I had to fulfil my side. I reached over with my right arm and pulled her against me in a rough, comforting hug
"Really, I don't remember that," I said, a frown on my face, bless my acting skills.
Red looked at me incredulously, her face nestled on my shoulder. "You don't remember that I tried to kill you several times?" She asked.
"Forgive and Forget, remember?" I said, my frown fading and being replaced with a smile. Her piercing green eyes stared into the depths of mine, the gaze broken only in the moments the green was hidden beneath her eyelids. After several seconds of this activity, or rather lack of activity, I was about ready to diagnose her pseudo-comatose. That was, until she burst out of my grip and pulled herself to her feet.
"You can't do that," she shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "It's not fair! You can't just forgive me. I tried to kill you. You should be angry with me. You should hate me! It's not fair!" By now tears were streaming down her pale face. The tears glistened in the moonlight, and twinkled like miniature model stars.
"How come you're the hero?" She asked in a despondent voice, the intensity of her earlier rant gone. "I tried so hard, and I messed everything up. You don't seem to try at all, but you always do all the right things. It's not fair. I wanted to be the hero."
I stood up and wrapped my arms around her in a full embrace. Her hands gripped the front of my shirt and she pushed her head into my chest as she sobbed softly. The top of her red hair tickled my neck, and although I was sorely tempted, I refused the pull to bury my face in her warm looking hair.
Instead I just held her as she bawled her eyes out like a small child. In the morning she would be sorely embarrassed, but for now she didn't seem to care. She was latched onto me tightly, almost as if she was afraid I would leave her.
"You know, I'm not a hero. I'm just a kid with a hero-complex," I said in attempt to reassure her. "I don't always do the right things. God knows I've made my mistakes."
"Then what makes us so different," Red said, sniffling as she wiped away the last of her tears. She didn't try to pull out of my embrace however, but rather seemed content with the arrangement.
"Nothing. Neither of us are heroes. We both have made mistakes, but we have also done our fair share of noble actions. I doubt I'd be standing here tonight if you hadn't saved me from Ricochet and Rhythm."
"Crystal helped too though…" Red murmured, her head against my chest, causing a soft vibration to hum through my body.
"That she did. Both of you were my heroes today." Red looked up at me in disbelief.
"A hero?" she asked, disbelief colouring her voice.
"Just for today. Savour the feeling, you deserve it." Red was silent as she processed her tumultuous feelings. Finally she spoke up, her cheek still pressed against my chest.
"Although I said some harsh things to you in the dungeon, I want you to know that I don't regret saving you," Red said, and I knew the honesty of the statement as her emerald green eyes stared into my own.
"And I wouldn't want it any other way. I've missed you these past few weeks Red. It was miraculous to see you again," I said, my voice soft and tender as I expressed things to Red that would now have me blushing in the morning.
My arms tightened around Red's thin figure, and if we were in the other world, I would have been worried that the strength of my grip would have shattered her thin bones. As it was, Red simply responded by wrapping her arms around my chest and gripping the back of my shirt firmly. We stood there in the glistening moonlight, the soft sounds of nature surrounding us for both seconds and years. Time didn't cease to be yet it didn't seem to exist either. It was a paradox, and one I was all too happy to accept.
"Red, Sirius, are you out here?" Crystal shouted, her voice piercing the quiet, calm night. Red tore herself out of my arms as if she'd encountered the plague. In the faint moonlight I could just see a healthy tinge of red on her usually pale face. I supposed that my face wouldn't have been much better though, especially with the way the SAO system enhances physical displays of emotion.
"Ah, there you are! Lily's looking for the two of you. She said she can't get to bed unless one of you tuck her in. For some reason I'm not adequate enough," Crystal complained, her tantrum ending in a loud huff.
I laughed both at Crystal's pouting face and at the thought of Lily waiting for me to tuck her in. The log cabin that I had rented for the next week lay about 100 meters away, and the soft twinkling of a fire place through the glass windows could just be seen through the thick foliage.
"Let's head back then. I wouldn't want Lily to miss her beauty sleep," I said to the watching girls, who trailed behind me as I led the way back.
The world of SAO was strange. New relationships were made that would have been impossible in the other world. What was even stranger was that the relationships I was making were beginning to become far more important to me than those of my past. For a moment I understood part of the vision Kayaba had seen in his madness as he created and trapped us in this death game. He had built a world that brought humans together.
Whew, sorry this took so long. Chinese New Year came up, and the holiday threw all of my carefully nurtured routine out the window, and I'm left in a state of comatose as I sleep through the days and party through the night...
Which also means I haven't wrote as far ahead as I would have liked, meaning the next chapter might also be a bit tardy. Sorry readers :( Hopefully the first hint of possible romance in this chapter makes up for that, yes?
I beg for your forgiveness.
Cheers
-Council