Chapter XVIII

„The Freedom of Happiness"

Asuna almost scolded poor Eugeo for not telling her where he was going and for the fact that some of her work with the cook in the kitchen went to waste. But when he apologized, giving her the sweetest smile we've ever seen, she went speechless for a moment. Clearly, she noticed the considerable change in him and temporarily retracted further questions. We offered to help her bring dinner from the main mansion and we ate together this time. During the meal I pretended to be very interested in the animal motifs on the silver cutlery, avoiding her curious glances. I could almost feel her holding back the questions about what had happened between the two of us.

Which was why I felt a bit bad about what we did next instead of enlightening her, but my heart couldn't hold back. Eugeo asked me if I was in the mood for practicing swordplay a little, and there was no way I would refuse. We borrowed a simple sword from our host and went to the clearing between the mansion and the forest at the east side. When Eugeo started to show me little tricks and secrets he knew from his years of experience, it kind of felt like the first time he showed us the Blue Rose Sword, but was fundamentally different. He was far more lively, not holding back with anything that sparked in his mind, and picking up on any little joke I made in the process.

After practicing some raw movements we wanted to try a little sparring, but we were caught by the sunset, which reminded us of how tired we already were. We returned to the mansion and Eugeo excused himself for a bit, wanting to talk to Kaan about something, so I retreated to my room.

Asuna appeared in it merely a few minutes later.

"You're unbelievable Kirito..." she said, silently closing the door behind her. "How did you manage to do that so fast?"

"We shouldn't take the improbable for impossible," I gave her an innocent look. "Isn't that what you tried to teach me just recently?"

"So what, there isn't even a point in asking?"

"I suppose not."

She sighed in pretended surrender and sat down on the edge of my bed. "I'm helping you to come up with a strategy against this stubborn winged kinsman of a mule and this is how you thank me?"

"Well, take into account that you're talking to one of his kin right now."

"Right, why be straightforward when you can have it complicated... I will knock it out of your head," she suddenly snatched one of the pillows, arranged neatly in a pile at the head of the bed and smacked me with it straight in the face. I think she didn't consider though, that I would pick the game up as quickly as I did.

When I was already on my third pillow, the previous two being lost somewhere underneath the table in the corner of the room, the door opened suddenly and Eugeo appeared in the doorway. Almost at the exact same moment Asuna's pillow flew right above his head and landed in the anteroom. He glanced over his shoulder, utterly confused, then turned to us again, raising his eyebrows even higher. Noone could blame him. There I was, sprawled on my back at the foot of my bed, my neck craned to be able to look at him, and above me, propped with her hands on the messed up bedsheets was Asuna, marvelous chestnut hair hanging at my sides like two thin curtains.

"What... are you doing?" he managed finally.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well..." a hint of amusement danced in Eugeo's voice. "I think anyone would be interested in why you suddenly decided to demolish your room... and with the help of a beautiful woman no less..." At this point he had to dodge quickly, when I snatched a pillow lying near Asuna's knee and sent it his way with a clumsy flick of my wrist. "You're asking for it..."

"Well, maybe that's what I want?" my innocent grin must have looked ridiculous, given the position I was currently in. Even so, it felt like it's been ages since I felt so lighthearted.

Eugeo picked the pillow up and looked Asuna in the eyes briefly before throwing it. She dodged quickly enough to not become the target, and slowly enough to not give me time to move out of the way.

"That's not fair..." I said, shoving the pillow away from my face.

"Didn't you just say, that this is what you want?"

"Oh you..." I squeezed the fabric firmly, got up to my knees and hurled it back at him with everything I had.

Eugeo's surprised squeak lured Sivath, who was resting by the door to the bridge, into my room as well, and the fight resumed with two new participants, the dog chasing the occasional falling feathers and barking playfully.

It took around a quarter to use up all of our energy, with me collapsing first, still being a bit sore from my recent lake adventure. A few minutes passed in silence, before Eugeo broke it, stopping to stroke Sivath lazily. "Thank you..." he said quietly.

"For what, making your hair look like Kirito's every morning?" I heard Asuna's breathless reply from somewhere in the head of the bed, but didn't even summon my strength to glance over.

Eugeo laughed silently and started setting his flaxen bangs in order. "No. For the fact that you didn't give up and write me off like I did..."

"We couldn't just leave you..." I managed to answer. "But if you pull something like that off again, I'm going to use something heavier than a pillow next time..."

I felt Asuna shift on the bedsheets slightly, and her voice sounded a bit more serious when she spoke again. "And from now on, we will make sure you keep in mind, that if you lose something, you can always find it again. But if you purposely cast something away, you might never be able to recover it..."

Eugeo looked at her for a moment, then smiled gently and bowed his head, accepting the warm reprimand. He then sighed contently and leaned his head on my stomach.

I closed my eyes, mimicking him with my own, satisfied sigh and repositioned myself more comfortably on the bed. Maybe the chasms, that I imagined between us three at the beginning were never truly there to begin with...

„Something pulled me back...

The Voice of Reason I forgot I had..."

Yeah, a short chapter, but back then I just felt like writing something small, lighthearted and warm, no strings attached. It's longer than the original anyway XD And I didn't want to mix it with the tension coming next week...

Thank you all for reading and see you next Friday! ;)