Well, this probably shouldn't have taken so long to upload. Oh well. Here it is.

Chapter 2

Whispers of Dreams

I looked at the little flames flickering, waiting for them to die out. Leafa just stood there, her sword still in her hand, frozen in surprise. Soon enough though, the Remain Lights died out, leaving us alone.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" I raised an eyebrow at her, taking her hand and letting myself be pulled up.

"Right back at you." She looked me up and down, as if still accessing if I was really there. It had been a long time since I had seen her. In this world, her attire was much more fairy-like, green translucent wings extending from her back, a green and white dress with the skirt resembling flower petals, and a leather corset wrapped around her stomach. But her face was the same. Despite her deflection, I could see how tired her eyes were.

I ignored her deflection with a shake of my head, dusting myself off. "Don't you have school tomorrow or something?"

"It's the holidays. And besides, don't change the subject." She crossed her arms, pouting a little.

I couldn't help but chuckle. It had to be contagious, before Leafa's laugh soon joined mine. It was just so ridiculous. Last time we saw each other, we were fighting for our lives in the middle of a war, death all around us. Now we were stood in the middle of a forest, fighting a battle about sleeping. It certainly couldn't be more different scenarios.

I managed to stop myself, sighing a little. "But seriously…"

She sighed a little. "I can't sleep right now."

"Same boat as me then…" I looked down, trying to hide the pain building up in my eyes.

Fortunately, Leafa put on a bright smile, changing the subject. "So what are you doing in Sylph territory? And better question, why haven't you told anyone you're here? No one has heard from you since you left the hospital."

I felt a pang of guilt hit my heart. I knew Eugeo and Alice gave me the Amusphere so I could go on adventures in this world with them, yet I had kind of purposely been avoiding everyone. It was half the reason I hadn't gone up to Aincrad, because I knew they were all up there, trying to clear the floors. But I just…couldn't face anyone just yet…

I forced a smile and thought of an excuse. "Well, this is a big world. It's kind of a miracle that I met you here. I was just doing some hunting and gathering quests to try and level up a little and learn."

"Oh. Do you need any help? Afterwards, I can take you to see Kirito and Eugeo. They're the only two online."

I shook my head. "It's okay. Just tell me where and I'll head there tomorrow." My mouth spoke before my mind even considered the offer. I never planned to actually turn up, but it should've been a good enough excuse to buy myself some time to prepare myself, or come up with an excuse for should I not go. I felt myself a little crushed by even thinking that…

Leafa, however, either from seeing through my thinly veiled excuse, or pure stubbornness, shook her head. "It's only some small quests you're doing. I can stick around."

I took a deep breath. If I pushed further, she might guess that I'm avoiding them. But then if I let her come with me, then I'd have to face Kirito, Eugeo and Alice, and explain to them why I've been gone. It was just horrible…

"Hey, are you okay?"

I bolted up, realising my face had been screwed up like I was in pain. I shook it off, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine…" I let my wings appear. "You can join me if you want…" Without another word, I jumped into the air and headed away.

Unsurprisingly, Leafa was soon flying beside me. I didn't look at her, knowing the pain would be showing on my face. I could tell she wanted to ask me about it, but thankfully stayed silent. Even if she did, the area where I could do the quest was right in front of me. Soon, some Wing Glancers saw me and turned towards me. I drew my blade, taking a deep breath. Air combat wasn't exactly something I had mastered, since it was far easier to use magic instead, and I couldn't learn a completely made up language. Maybe I could ask to go back into the Soul Translator just to learn this fairy language. It worked for Japanese.

The first Wing Glancer came at me, building a fireball at its mouth. I pressed my sword against my back, the blade glowing red as it recognised the position as the Sword Skill, Sonic Leap. The pressure began to build as I approached. A fireball from the flying lizard's mouth began to fly towards me, and I unleashed the built pressure. The red arc of light tore through the fireball, and soon the Wing Glancer was split in two, before exploding into shards of light.

I immediately turned to my left, hearing the sound of wings cutting through the air. The Wing Glancer raised its claws, ready to strike at me. I raised my sword to block it, but its right wing was cut through by a wind blade, angled perfectly so it wouldn't hit me. It spiralled down to the ground where it exploded into shards of light. Leafa hovered above the battle, already preparing another spell.

I gave her a small nod before launching myself at the next two enemies. The backmost one of them shot another fireball at me. I spun my body upwards, letting the fireball pass by me, before letting my wings disappear. Since I was above the first one, I used him as a step, kicking off him and launching myself at the one that attacked me. I heard the one below my foot explode from a spell as I cut through the other, both joining the others.

I smiled, before suddenly, the world turned upside down and my back became numb. I spiralled downwards, trying to regain some sense of control. But it only seemed to make my descent worse and more uncontrollable.

"Light! Use your wings!"

It took a moment, but then I stopped listening to my instincts. I straightened my legs and spread my arms, regaining control. My head was pointed towards the trees, which were very close now. My mind focused and I spread the dark wings on my back. My whole body flipped and I bent my knees, pushing against the air to throw myself back at the one who sent me on this fall. The Wing Glancer prepared to charge at me, but by the time it had prepared, my blade slicing from left to right, tearing across its side, killing it instantly.

I took a few deep breaths, before flicking my blade to the side, cleaning it of anything that was left on it. There never was in this world, but it was an instinct that I had developed. I sheathed my sword, looking at the small amount of damage that I had taken from that blow, rather annoyed at how much a trash mob did.

"Here…" Leafa floated up to my side, placing her hand so it was hovering above my arm. She said a few words in the fairy language and the numbness in my back faded away, my body being surrounded in a green light. My health topped up back to full.

"Thanks." I rolled my shoulders a little. "I'm still getting used to fighting in the air."

"You already fly so well though."

I thought back to those golden dragon wings from back in Underworld. "Well, I can't take full credit for that." I missed them… They felt a lot more natural than these wings, where I had to imagine the bones instead of feeling them. "Plus, I don't know magic that well."

"Oh…" Leafa paused for a while, holding her chin in her forefinger and thumb. "Well, maybe I could teach you some."

She certainly wasn't making it easy to avoid everyone… "I guess…" I blinked a little in surprise. I wanted to spend some time thinking about it, but my mouth went faster than my mind.

Her eyes sparkled with joy. "Then it's settled." Her smile was so bright that I couldn't refuse now, even if I wanted to. "It would be easier for us to meet at Kirito and Asuna's house, since most of us meet up there before heading out. Come on, I'll show you." She began flying away.

"Wait!" I yelled after her. She turned in the air to look at me, confused. "I…need to turn in the quest…"

"Oh, right. Sorry, got a little ahead of myself."

I smiled a little. It was just a convenient excuse to let my brain catch up. Plus…I needed to prepare myself for seeing the others again.

But then…Leafa's eyes began to flutter closed…

And her wings disappeared.

And she began falling.

Her body fell towards the ground, and before I could even register what was happening, I was diving after her. Between the moments for my body to move and the fact it was already too short of a fall to slow her momentum, I just wrapped my arms around her and turned so I'd be the one landing on the ground. Even though my body was virtual, I was sure I would feel the impact in the morning as I hit the dirt, my momentum carrying me down a short hill, collapsing in a heap at the bottom.

I panted for a few moments, taking a moment to look at her. Leafa, meanwhile, had remained asleep through that entire tumble, and now was resting on my chest. I gently moved her off, sighing a little. "Falling asleep in the middle of the field… It's like you're trying to give me no choice…" I couldn't leave her here to be prey to monsters or players.

I opened my menu, navigating to the friends list and selecting Kirito. He was the only one on there right now, since I had kind of been forced to add at least someone so when the time came to finally face them, I had someone to message. My eyes briefly scanned all the messages checking up on me which I had pretended to ignore previously, before sending him a message.

'Leafa's fallen asleep in the middle of the Sylph Forest. Can you come and take her to a safe place?'

"No…"

I jolted in surprise, hearing her speak. Yet her eyes remained closed, even though her eyebrows were quivering in fear.

Hesitating for just a moment, I gently placed my hand on hers. "It's okay… You're safe…"

Surprisingly, she seemed to calm down almost immediately, drifting off into a peaceful sleep. It…gave me something to think about. Back when I was having nightmares, were they made worse by being alone? If I had a hand to hold mine, would I have slept more peacefully? Then again, my nightmares were reoccurring every night, deeply embedded in my guilt and… No, I shouldn't follow this trail of thought… I've moved on…

I have…haven't I…?

The small jingle of a message popped up, a simple reply, saying 'I'm on my way'.

So sorry for the late upload. Unfortunately, I have no excuse. This has been ready since I uploaded the first chapter, but I just never did. It really doesn't take long to upload, so for that, I'm sorry.

Progress from now on, however, will be slow, because I've got a new job and am focusing on moving to my own place. So that will be really nice. I've also been really enjoying drawing and writing No Land Beyond. I've made some huge progress on that. But I'm still trying to write this. Nightshade was what helped me improve as a writer so much, and I won't abandon it.

Thank you all for the follows and favourites. Feel free to leave your thoughts in a review. Until next time, Stay Cool.