Sans was standing on the edge of Aincrad again. This time, he caught a boy who was about to do something really, really stupid...
…Or was it logical? He couldn't tell.
"anyway, as i was saying... it's a nice day out. why not relax and take a load off—?"
"This is just a game, right? Right?! The Game Master only said all of those things to scare us so we would actually play as if everything is real! Yeah, that's all this world is!"
"look, buddy. pal. i don't know who told you that, but that's not true—"
"SHUT UP! You can't fool me! I'm going home right here, right now, and you can't stop me! HAHAHA!"
The boy laughed and jumped to his inevitable end with a pitiful look etched on his face; fueled by the despair and desperation that clouded his judgment. Sans just stood there as his dimple smile never left his face.
He failed again.
A month had passed since the beginning of this death game and approximately 1,303 players had died. During the first two and three weeks, Sans stuck around the edge of Aincrad, and other areas that were considered well-known spots to end one's life, to persuade those who were on the verge of giving up with words of determination.
He began to get used to this mask that the Real Sans always put on his face; his smile. Through every encounter, every conversations, advices and jokes, he perfected this façade; this new personality; he truly hoped that he could save every players from despair and anxiety.
However, as he had just witnessed, not everyone would listen and calm down as he hoped for. As much as he wanted to blame himself for not being able to prevent the deaths of those he failed to convince, he knew that it wasn't his fault... But that didn't mean he felt any less guilty about it.
Perhaps what he did was pointless. Perhaps what he did was a futile attempt to justify the fact that he was a coward that didn't want to fight on the front lines, nor sit idle by doing nothing... But wasn't that it? Wasn't the reason the Real Sans was lazy was because he knew that every moment in his life could be the last so he tried to make the most of it doing things that he wanted to do and cheering people up so they'd never know the true pain of living a life such as his?
He could never know the answer, but he did know one thing: convincing people to live in a world where they were forced to live in was absolutely bone tiring.
He shook his head, reminding himself that he shouldn't make jokes when thinking about/going through something so morbid… but then again, that was the job he chose to take. Though, in all honesty, he didn't know whether he should be scared of the fact that he was getting used to it or not; a part of him told him that he should, while the other… disagreed bone-headedly.
Crap, he did it again. Maybe thinking about something that was not negative could help.
Let's see... On the bright side, most of the other players had accepted the truth of their current predicament so they were all determined to clear the death game to escape it. Those who were too scared to fight decided that they would support the Clearers, a term used for players who fights on the front lines and focuses on clearing the game, in terms of preparing equipments, items, etc. The rest, however... well, too scared to fight orto end their own lives, the rest decided that they would just hang around the Town of Beginnings, doing nothing but wallow in misery and despair.
Sans had met all three types of people and if he hadn't made up his mind, he might have joined the "rest," or worse, the fourth type of people; those who ended their own lives.
He sighed, thinking that it was enough morbid thinking for today. He needed a break anyway, so he headed back toward the Town of Beginnings.
He walked around the town and could see players sat around with grim expressions. He chuckled and smiled sadly; he understood how hopeless they felt. He even saw a few players that he talked to recently just simply sitting down with lifeless looks; they didn't even greet him back.
He had been thinking about it. He thought that maybe it was time for him to leave the Town of Beginnings and move on to the next town to keep an eye out for other suicidal players. Besides… he had something to experiment with.
He was about to grab a lunch before a familiar voice called out from behind him.
"S-Sans?"
"hm? can i help—"
Before he could finish he saw a face that he thought he'd never see again; Klein. He saw that on the top of Klein's head there was a number that reads 17. He smiled as he always did and greeted him.
"yo… been a while, huh?"
"Y-Yeah."
An awkward silence fell between the two of them.
"U-Uh, Sans, listen. I'm sorry that I left you that day and never came back. I-I'm really sorry—"
Sans looked at him seriously without changing his expressions.
"You bet you are."
Sans approached Klein and raised a hand. Klein flinched and closed his eyes as he waited for Sans to hit him.
However, instead of feeling (non-existent) pain, he was met with a hand to his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly to see Sans smiled and winked at him.
"…cuz', boy, do i have a bone to pick with you!"
At first Klein didn't know how to react, but then he snickered a little, then louder, louder and before he realized it, he was already laughing out loud as he let out a single tear. He wiped the tear away as Sans continued.
"anyway, wat'cha doin' here? have y'met any of ur friends yet?"
"I'm here to… well, look around. I mean, this place is where everything started, might as well say a last goodbye before moving on. And yeah, I've met them. We are all together now and guess what? I am now officially the leader of our guild, the Fuurinkazan!" Klein bragged as he held a heroic pose, "…though we still can't make a guild yet since there some requirements to be met, so I guess I'm not really a guild leader yet." He muttered.
Sans stayed silent for a few moment, then nonchalantly said,
"k"
"Eh...? Eh?! Oh, come. On! That's all the reaction I got? You could be more like, 'Wow, really?' or 'So awesome!' you know!"
Sans laughed.
"lol, no."
"URK!" As if a giant arrow stabbed through Klein's chest, he knelt on the ground as he cried comically. Klein recovered from such critical attack and sighed, "Why does someone as cool as me have to do so much just to get some recognition?"
"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself… down to the bone."
"Haha, okay, that's enough puns for today."
"why? bone-tired of hearing my punny puns?"
"Sans, please stop."
"well… tibia honest, i think i understand why you want me to stop…" Sans continued.
"Stop."
"after all, these punny puns aren't very humerus!"
"God, make it STAAAPH! Why are you making skeleton puns just because your username is sans_the_skeleton anyway? You don't even look like a skeleton! Not even close!"
Sans stayed silent for a moment then touched Klein's iron armor. "Ironic, isn't it?"
Klein was about to flip out, but sudden pinging noise came from Klein's menu; it was a message. He read the message he received and his face slowly contorted into a look of seriousness and surprise; Sans noticed this.
"so…wazzup?"
"H-Huh? Oh nothing, it's just… I've got a message."
"what about?"
"…They said that the Clearers have found the 1st Floor's Boss."
Sans was silent; he was truly surprised. Heh, what do you know? Seemed like he would be able to live long enough to advance to the next floor after all.
"that's a surprise. what're you gonna do now, klein?"
"Well, the message my friends told me said that there would be a meeting for Clearers that is going to be held in a town near the tower dungeon called Torbana tomorrow."
"i see."
"Yeah, but that's just me. The question is, what are you going to do? It's been a month and I've been looking for you… I didn't even know that you were still here the whole time!"
[it's not like i can get far away out of town without the fear that i might die from simply being poked by monsters] he thought to himself dryly.
Nonetheless, Sans didn't let the smile on his face disappear.
"well… i had things to do. but forget about that, where're your friends now?"
"My friends? Oh, they're already at Torbana. After all, they were the ones who sent me this message."
"k. gotcha."
"Well, you haven't answered my question, Sans. What are you going to do now? If you still want to stay here, I under—"
Sans thought to himself for a moment then cut Klein off and gave his answer.
"i've been thinking of leaving the town so i guess i'll go with you to torbana."
"Wait. Really?"
"of course. besides, i got something that i wanted to try. mind helping me as we travel?"
Klein nodded and gave him a thumb up as he smiled, "Anything for a friend!"
Sans had been smiling ever since the day he decided to be the person he was now. In fact he had been smiling so much that even he couldn't tell which smile of his was the real thing anymore.
However, moments like these, seeing the smile of his friend, someone he trusted, who was willing to help him… it reminded him of how it feels to truly smile again. If seeing Klein again could make him this happy, perhaps it'd do well for him to see Kirito soon too.
"So! What are we waiting for? Let's go, Sans!"
Sans closed his eyes and took a deep breath then when he opened them, he was smiling a bit wider than he always did.
"k"
The Next Day, First Floor: Torbana, 2nd of December, 2022
It's been a month since Kirito travelled alone. As a beta-tester he had leveled up much, much quicker than any other players did so perhaps it was safe to assume that he was currently the player who had the highest level within the game; 26.
But that's not what was important. What was important was the fact that he had been living as a loner for days that he... changed.
He walked towards the meeting point where players had gathered for the briefing of the plan to attack Aincrad's first floor boss.
A man with a blue hair and blue armor stood on the stage and clapped his hands to get the attention of players.
"May I have you attention, please? Well, it's time for the meeting to begin. Today, I'd like to thank you all for coming after you all have received my call. My name is Diavel and you could say that it's my job to be a knight!"
[There isn't any job system in SAO. What? Is he trying to be funny? What a waste of my ti—]
Before Kirito could even finish his thought, the man known as Diavel suddenly turned serious.
"Anyway… two days ago, our party has found the boss room on the top of the tower dungeon. In order to advance to the second floor, we must defeat the boss within said room and show players that are waiting in the Town of Beginnings that this game is beatable.
With that being said, this is why everybody here must participate in this attack! Isn't that right, everyone?!"
At first the players hesitated, but then swallowing their fears, with looks of determination on their faces, they all clapped their hands at Diavel's speech.
"Okay, then, now we'll discuss about a strategy to defeat the boss. First off, we'll split everyone into parties of six players. Bosses in every floor can't be defeated with a normal party. So—"
Kirito tuned out the rest of Diavel's explanation. He could see that the other players were already inviting or joining other players to form their parties. Most would think that he would panic and start to look for available players, but he didn't. In fact he didn't care about it.
He could find other players later, for now, he must recall the attack patterns of the first floor boss that he knew. He defeated it once in beta-test with the other beta-testers; he could defeat it again; alone if he must.
He sighed, seeing that there wasn't any point in staying any longer. However, before he could even stand up, a player shouted as he walked onto the stage.
"HOLD ON A SECOND! I'm Kibaou and before we talk about the strategy to defeat the boss, I'd like to say a few words.
"Some of you here owed the rest an apology for the death of more than a thousand players since the beginning of the month!"
"Excuse me, Kibaou, by 'you', are you referring to the beta testers?"
"Of course, I am! Ever since the beginning of this shitty game, beta testers had disappeared and left the rest of us newbies for dead! They took all good hunting spots, easy quests, and thought about nothing but getting power for themselves. Not only that, but they also ignored the rest of us!"
Kibaou had a look of rage on his face.
"I'm pretty sure one of you was in the beta! I demand that all of you get over here to kneel and apologize to the rest of us! Then you should give all of the money and items that you have gathered! If you refuse, then we can't trust them to protect us as a party member!"
Silence befell the players. Kirito was thinking about how utterly ridiculous and dumb this Kibaou person was. He was about to give him a piece of his mind before another player stood up.
"Wait a second. I am Agil. Kibaou, I think that what you were trying to say is that a lot of newbies had died because the beta testers didn't teach them how to play and for that reason, they must take responsibility, apologize and give compensations? Is that correct?"
"Y-Yeah."
The tall, dark-skinned, man took out a small book from his pocket.
"You've one of this guide books, don't you? After all, you can get one for free almost anywhere in the town."
"I do… but so what?!"
"For your information, the ones who made this book are beta testers."
Kibaou was silent as players had looks of surprise as Agil continued.
"Everyone, listen. Every and any information about the basics and tricks of the game that you needed are in this book, however, even after having this knowledge, there are still a lot of players that have died. That is why we should think of this as a lesson so that we can focus on how to help those who can't fight by defeating the boss as well as so that we don't get ourselves killed."
"Tch."
With that Kibaou went back to sit among the crowds as Agil followed. Kirito didn't feel like leaving anymore as Diavel began to continue his explanation so he began to doze off.
"—Well, if that's all, then that concludes our meeting for today. Please rest well and prepare yourselves for tomorrow!"
The loud cheers of players woke Kirito up. He realized that the other players were leaving so he decided to leave too, however—
"Eh, Kirito?"
He heard a familiar voice and turned around with a look of disbelief.
"K-Klein?"
He looked at the chubby boy beside him.
"S-Sans?"
"'sup?"
"W-What are you doing here?"
"What are you talking about? We came here for the meeting of course! Isn't that right, Sans?"
"yup."
"I-I see…"
Sans could see the sadness Kirito was trying to hide and when he saw the blue clothes that Kirito was wearing under his armor, he decided to cheer him up.
"so… feeling a lil' blue?"
He snickered a bit at the pun; he didn't realize that Sans knew how he felt; he thought Sans meant that he was going to cry after not meeting them for so long.
"Kind of."
"Uuugh, Sans, can you just—?! You know what, I give up…"
"What's wrong, Klein?"
"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's WRONG! I've been stuck with this guy and his puns since yesterday and trust me, it. Was. HELL."
"didja mean, it was helluva pun times?"
Klein groaned in exasperation, "SEE?!"
Kirito laughed nervously as he didn't know how to react after not meeting the very first friends he made since the beginning of the game.
He felt a little sad again when thinking about the days he spent being alone. While the Klein and Kirito was talking, Sans suddenly spoke, "guys, sorry but I gtg."
"What? Gotta go? So soon?" Klein frowned in confusion.
"yup. don't worry though, i'll see you two again tomorrow before you enter the tower dungeon. 'sides, you two need to catch up with each other."
"Wait! Do you have any money or—"
"don't worry about me, klein. i have everything that i needed. thanks for helping me."
"O-Of course… well, then. See you tomorrow, Sans."
"see you, klein. kirito."
With that, Sans left the two friends to catch up.
Sans was walking alone in the town square. He was thinking about the discoveries he had made until today. While he was on his way to Torbana, he asked Klein for help in fighting monsters and he compared the damage he could deal when fighting monsters with different levels.
Apparently, Sans actually did have the Real Sans power called Karmic Retribution; an effect that gave his attack a damage-overtime effect proportional to his enemies' level; specifically exp. An attack to a level 1 boar dealt 1 instant damage and 1 damage-overtime resulting in 2 points of damage, while an attack to a level 2 boar dealt 1 instant damage and 3 damage-overtime resulting in 4 points of damage, while an attack to a level 3 boar dealt 1 instant damage and 7 damage-overtime resulting in 8 points of damage. The damage overtime effect increased exponentially according to his enemy's level and lasted proportional to the amount of time his attack made contact with his enemy. Not only that but they also seemed to ignore armor or other type of defenses too.
Through this experiment, he discovered that in order to use this power effectively, he must fight against high-level enemies rather than lower-level enemies. However, 8 damages per hit, assuming it lasted 1 full second, on a level 3 monster weren't a lot seeing that level 3 monsters had an average health of around 500-700; the average health of level 1 players.
In an attempt to cover this weakness, he figured that he needed to make sure that his attacks made a very long contact with the enemy, thus he tried his second experiment; summoning bones. He carried out this experiment when Klein was fast asleep. Although it wasn't the first time he tried to summon it, he had been trying ever since the day he made his resolve, but last night was the first time he could actually summon one. It required him great focus on visualizing the bones for them to be summoned, but so far, he could only summon at the maximum of five bones around the size of his thigh's bone as far as five meters away from him and even then he still needed more focus to maintain their forms lest they simply glitch out of existence. Summoning even a single bone also drained a lot of his stamina.
He didn't get the chance to try summoning Gaster Blasters or practicing his teleportation though; he either was too exhausted or didn't have the time. After all, if simply summoning bones required him so much focus and stamina, then it seemed like it'll take some time for him to be able to actually summon a gaster blaster, much less teleport.
These experiments that he conducted showed that he indeed had the powers of the Real Sans. He would need a lot of time to train his focus and stamina in order for him to effectively use these powers, nevertheless it was a start.
As he kept on walking around the town square he saw someone that he had wanted to meet.
Klein and Sans arrived late for the meeting, but while Klein couldn't find Kirito among the other players, Sans' enhanced vision allowed him to find Kirito with little to no efforts.
However, he didn't tell Klein about it since something, or rather someone piqued his interest; it was a cloaked girl right next to Kirito (it took him a few moments, but he figured the person was a she from her feminine body build). He had been watching the cloaked girl ever since he arrive at the meeting point and although he couldn't see her face clearly, there was something that felt... familiar.
It was as if there was a voice from somewhere deep in his mind that was telling him to simply rush there and to see just what was it that caused this familiar sense of feeling.
Figuring that it might raise unwanted suspicions from Kirito and Klein, he immediately set out to look for her the moment the meeting ended.
And thus, there he was, standing right in front of the cloaked girl who was sitting alone in the corner of the town square… well not exactly 'in front of her' per se, more like behind her.
Her cloak was brown, making her seem like she merged into the shadows due to her dimly lit surroundings. Sans looked above her head and saw a number that read 19. He took a deep breath and put on his signature smile then he stepped forward to greet the girl.
"Hey girl. Don't you know how to greet a—"
Sans widened his eyes as he felt a sudden rapid change in the air pressure around him and before he could realize what was happening, a blade sliced through his head.
…Or it would have if not for his enhanced senses and reflexes saving him at the last second by pulling his head backward it, dodging the attack by mere centimeters. The blade, as he noticed, was from the rapier that the cloaked girl held in her hand and it was pointed right between his eyes.
For a moment, nobody made a move.
Sans was afraid. Were he not fast enough to dodge such an attack outside of a safe zone that could only mean one thing; his inevitable and utter demise.
However, he remembered that he wasn't in an 'unsafe zone' so he regained his composure and smiled in awe.
"wow. cool reflexes."
The girl held the rapier tighter when he was about to move, causing him to flinch.
"What do you want?" she spoke
The game system made it possible that the hood of cloak didn't show her face, but standing right in front of her in person and listening to her voice, this unknown familiar feeling came back again, filling him with a sense of frustration due to the fact that he just couldn't put his finger on what did she remind him of.
"…"
"I said, what do you want?" she told him again in a tone full of suspicion, snapping Sans out of his daze.
"h-huh? oh, well, i'd like to tell you… but if you can get this blade out of my face then that would make me much, much…" He paused and smiled, "…rapier."
"…Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion as her grip on her sword lessened.
"heh, geddit? rapier, happier?"
She began to shake as she spoke slowly, "Stop wasting my time and just TELL ME WHAT DO YOU—"
A suddenly loud grumble interrupted her.
Silence fell between the two players, suddenly Sans began, "…was that a—?"
"S-Shut u—!" Another loud grumble and she knelt down holding his stomach in pain(?).
With a face as red as tomato and eyes that were about to release tears of embarrassment, the girl looked away as Sans sighed and snickered.
Well, he could probably forget about this familiar feeling at the moment. After all, this was certainly an interesting way to meet someone.
Unlike the Real Sans, Sans wasn't that lazy. He took the initiative to get some food and came back with a few breads in hand.
"thanks for waiting. here u go" he handed her a bread.
"T-Thanks…"
At first she was skeptical, but soon she began to take a bite from the raw bread; she didn't seem like she liked it that much.
"like it?"
"E-Eh? Y-Yeah…"
Sans opened up his menu and then took out something; a jar. The girl watched him in curiosity and saw how he tapped at the jar then began to spread something white and creamy all over his bread.
"W-What is that?" She
"hm? this? it comes from a quest when i was traveling here with a friend. well, he did all of the work, but despite that, he was kind enough to give me this item. it tastes just like custard, y'know."
He took an intentional slow bite and hummed loudly in delight. The girl realized that she was gaping as her mouth watered.
She looked at the bread on her hand then back at Sans', then back at hers and then back at Sans' again. Sans, of course, noticed this and smirked.
"y'know, i was wondering how could anyone enjoy eating something as raw and tasteless as these breads, but hey, you said you like it so i guess everybody has their own taste in culinary."
Her face reddened under her hood as Sans pretended to act innocent and continued, "…or is that wrong?"
"Mou! Whatever!"
She threw the bread toward the ground and it exploded into pixels as she pouted and faced the other way.
However, her stomach betrayed her and Sans laughed even harder. He handed her another bread; this time with the sweet-tasting cream all over it.
She took it begrudgingly as she muttered an inaudible grumble. She stared at the food on her hand and took a bite.
Widening her eyes, she paused momentarily to savor the sweet taste of the cream and before she realized it, she already wolfed down the whole thing. Sans chose to stay quiet as he merely stared at her; impressed.
"delicious?"
She was silent for a moment, then she spoke, "I didn't came to this town to simply eat delicious foods…" she paused, "I came here so that I can be myself."
Sans realized that the sudden gloomy change in the atmosphere, so he remained quiet with his everlasting smile and listened.
"I'd rather be myself than sit idly at the inn at the Town of Beginnings. So, I kept telling myself… 'Even if I might die and get killed by monsters…I'll never lose to this world and this game. No matter what.'"
For a moment silence fell between the two. Then Sans extended his hand toward her face, "that was actually pretty…" He used his finger to clean a bit of cream that was stuck on the side of her mouth and licked it as he smiled. "sweet."
The girl blushed again and stammered badly, clearly caught off guard seeing that she didn't expect him to do such a thing. Sans laughed at her cute reaction, but then looked away.
"heh heh heh… if only they were more like you then they wouldn't have to waste their lives so pointlessly…"
She tilted her head in confusion, "What do you me—?"
Before she could finish, Sans cut her off with a snicker and winked.
"nah, don't worry about it. just kidding."
He paused then asked a question.
"anyway… i've got a question for ya. why didn'tcha form a party at the meeting?"
"Oh, that... Well, it seemed like everyone else knew each other already. I didn't want to intrude or anything."
Sans closed his eyes and nodded. "i see…"
Silence befell the two players, but then the girl spoke again, "Why are you here?"
"hm?"
"Why are you here talking to me?"
"well…" Sans paused, trying to come up with an excuse, "…meh, just trying to nice as i walk around town. noticed u were from the meeting, so figured i should say hi."
"Is that… so…?"
"why?"
"I thought you were about to ask me to join your party?"
"oooh, no, no, i'm not fighting."
"What? Why?"
Sans stayed silent for a moment, but then did a stupid pose (like Papyrus) "i'm too fabulous to fight, you know!"
"…"
He looked away as his face reddened in embarrassment as the girl simply stared at him I silence, but then she laughed.
"P-pfft! Ha ha ha! What was that pose? I-Is that supposed to make you look cool? Ha ha ha!"
He scratched the side of his face and sighed,
"well, at least someone's happy…"
The girl's laughter died down and Sans asked,
"anyway, we haven't properly been introduced yet." He extended his hand, "i'm sans. sans the skeleton."
She gladly took his hand and opened the hood of her cloak. It was at this moment Sans could clearly see what she looked like; a beautiful face of girl with a smooth brown hair.
…If only it would made him blush in shyness like any other boys, because Sans froze dead on the spot instead; an unreadable expression etched on his face as the girl shook his hand and told him her name.
"I'm Asuna. Pleased to meet you, Sans."
His senses were numbed and all that he wanted to do at that very moment was nothing more than to get away from her as soon as possible as old memories flooded his mind; memories that he never, ever, ever thought he would remember again.
"…"
"Uh… Sans? Are you okay?"
Her words snapped him out of his frozen state and he regained his composure as he forced his smile; which felt much harder than usual.
"O-Oh! R-Right… Asuna, huh? Well, I'll remember it!"
His façade was slowly being shattered as cold sweat was pouring out of his body.
An extremely uncomfortable chill crawled up his spine and he couldn't take it anymore.
He had to get away from her.
"W-Wow, look at the time. Guess I overstayed my welcome. You should rest soon, after all you have a big day tomorrow."
She nodded as Sans began to walk away rather quickly, but then he suddenly stopped and spoke without looking back, "Oh and one last thing… don't die."
Asuna was a bit taken aback. She had been living and fighting alone for almost a month now, like everybody else, so hearing that someone genuinely cared for her well-being and expected her to return alive, it brought a familiar sense of warmth into her heart; something that she might have forgotten how it felt.
Although, it was a completely different kind of familiar feeling compared to what Sans was having.
She didn't realize it, but she blushed a bit as she simply nodded. "Mm."
Sans began to walk again, but then Asuna called out to him, "W-Wait!"
He cursed inwardly, but endured his discomfort with his still smiling as ever, "Yea?"
"T-Thank you for the food. I'll pay you back one day."
Sans forced a wider smile, "D-don't mention. I'm glad you liked it." He winked and gave her a thumb up, "Besides, if you were that hungry again, I'll be glad to buy you more."
The blush on Asuna's face deepened as she looked up and spoke in embarrassment.
"M-Mou, s-shut up! It's not my fault that I've been focusing on leveling up, rather than waste my time doing something like eating!"
Sans faked a laugh and continued on his way as he waved his hand without looking back.
When he was sure that he was out of her vision, his smile turned into a look of despair as tears began to stream down the side of his face.
Sans ran away with a single thought echoing in his mind.
[WHY IS SHE HERE?!]
The Next Day…
A bone erupted out of the ground. Another one erupted again and again, then finally after a series of ten bones coming out of the ground, five more sprouted out simultaneously. The bones didn't move for a moment, but then they glitched out of existence, leaving the ground as it was before as if nothing had come out of it in the first place.
In a dark clearing of the forest outside of the town of Torbana, Sans was lying down on the grass. His breath was ragged and unsteady as sweat poured from all over his body. Dried tears covered most of his face as he merely stared at the sky of dawn with a lifeless look.
He couldn't sleep at all since last night. He spent too much time crying his heart out until he was eventually out of tears, but when he did, he began to train himself harder than he had ever done, pushing himself until he collapsed.
The clearing where he was at was perfect for his situations. It wasn't that close to the monster spawn area and at the same time it was also quite a walk out of town so he figured that it'd be safe to do so without anybody finding out. For example, let out everything he had been bottling up and exhausting himself through training like he just did.
It was strange, he thought. He always wondered why the game glitched out on him. He was merely naming his character with the name of some other character he admired so why would the game go as far as giving him this magical power of Sans when it is within the system's code that there should be no such thing as magic in Aincrad?
Why did the game mess around with his stats? Why did he get this power? What was the point of the game allowing him to be able to actually feel pain? What was the point of the game giving him enhanced senses? And lastly, what was the point to all… this?
However, despite still having so many unanswered questions, another one had been added into that piled up questions.
Of all the times there is in this whole wide world, why in the name of hell was his past haunting him now?
As he thought about these unspoken questions, the sun had begun to rise over the horizon, illuminating the night sky with its glorious sunlight once more.
It's been years now and he didn't want to remember it; no, he didn't want to accept it; but now, being the new person he was, he gave up.
He had to accept it, now. He can't change the past. He had to let go.
…f he could, of course, because no matter how much he accepted it, no matter how much he tried to let go, and no matter how much he wanted to forget, he could never, ever forget the night where his family was ruined into broken pieces.
The time had come. It was seven o'clock, an hour before the scheduled time, and Kirito and Klein woke up. The duo was surprise to see Sans already up so early, sitting down the chair staring outside the window with an unreadable expression.
Klein asked what was wrong and Sans seemed to flinch at the question before putting on his Sans façade once again and telling that everything was fine.
Kirito and Klein knew that something up, but they decided not to dwell on it; they had an important thing to do, they mustn't get distracted.
The three of them walked through the town heading for the Tower Dungeon. Kirito and Klein shared a few stories of their one-month worth of adventure as they occasionally threw a joke or two.
However, it was then they realized that Sans had been silent for the whole time, not even interrupting the both of them to throw in any puns or bad jokes as he simply walked right beside them with his seemingly everlasting smile.
But Kirito and Klein knew that behind his smile, Sans was definitely hiding something; they could see it in his evidently lifeless eyes. The two didn't know how to being, but feeling the need to do something, thus Kirito began.
"So, Sans, didn't know you were such an early bird."
"hm? well, now u know."
An awkward silence fell between the three friends and Klein finally had enough.
"Where did you go yesterday, Sans?"
"oh, u know… just around."
"Really…?"
"yup."
"…You're not lying to us right?"
"why would i do that?"
Klein and Kirito looked at each other and sighed while Sans merely tilted his head in confusion; something was up.
"…is something wrong?"
Klein shook his head, "No, no, we trust you."
"…oookay?"
Sans looked around and he realized that they had arrived at the gate of the town. He stopped dead on his tracks follow by his two friends.
"What's wrong, Sans?" Klein asked
"heh, sorry guys, but this is as far as i would go." [Well I could fight with you, but if I do, I'd only help you in rising then numbers of casualty.]
"E-Eh? What are you talking about?"
Sans closed his eyes as he gave them his usual smile, "you won't need me in there. i figured that the least i could do was accompany u two before u actually fight."
"What are you talking about, Sans? We need all the help we can get!"
Sans chuckled as he smiled sadly, [If only you both remember why I can't…]
Klein probably wasn't paying attention when Sans did his experiments and Kirito probably forgot about his predicament. After all, lots of stuffs had happened since the beginning of this death game; not everyone have the time to remember everything since everyone was too busy trying to survive.
"nah, i'm sure that u guys can handle it. i'm too lazy to do anything today so i'll probably head back to the inn for a nap or two... heh, maybe i'll try to get a job today, if i feel like it."
Klein sighed and shook his head as Kirito laughed, "I can't believe this. We're trapped in a game where we can die at any possible moment, yet here you are slacking off as if things are fine the way it is… Un. Beliveable."
Sans laughed harder in irony at what he just said, "oh klein, you have no idea."
"Well then, me and Kirito will do all the work for you and fight to get us all out of here as fast as we can. I guess you don't wanna get a part of the glory~!" Klein tried to trick Sans to join the fight.
Sans chuckled again, "whatever it is you're trying to do, klein, it ain't working, brah." He paused then continued, "'sides, u can go ahead and do that, cuz' i absolutely love doing nothing."
"Awww, man... Fine! Be that way. I'll see you on the second floor. Hmph!" He pouted.
He turned around and walked off childishly. Kirito and Sans merely sweat dropped.
"And… yeah. So there you have it. I guess, we're going now, Sans."
"yea, u go on ahead and fight. just promise me u'll keep urself and… well, just try to stop klein from getting himself killed, will ya?"
"Hahaha, I can take care of myself, but Klein? No promises."
The two laughed at the morbid joke, but they both knew that they won't let that ever happen; never.
"anyway, time to go. i'll see u around."
"Alright, then. Until we meet again, Sans."
Kirito turned around and was about to head for the Dungeon, but Sans called out for him.
"actually…"
"What is it, Sans?"
"say, have you made a party yet?"
"A-Ah… a party… right."
Sans sweat dropped with an "I knew it" expression while Kirito looked a bit embarrassed as he put on a face that says, "Shut up!"
"you're such an antisoc—"
"I-it's not my fault alright! Klein said that his party was full and I didn't know anyone… beside I don't need anyone to help me!"
"whoa there, careful now. arrogance is the downfall of many legendary warriors or so i've heard."
"Well, it's not arrogance if it's the truth."
Sans sighed, "if u say so." But then he continued, "still, let me give u an advice. when you're on your way there, walk at the back of the group and look for a cloaked girl with a rapier. i met her last night and she said that she wasn't in a party. u should ask her to party up with you before diavel ask if anyone doesn't have a party yet."
"…What's that supposed to mean?"
"who knows? maybe you'd prefer explaining to diavel why you don't have a party member. what was the reason again… oh right, 'sorry diavel, but i'm too shy and powerful to ask anyone to create or join a party, so pls just let me off the hook for now!' yea, i bet he and everyone would definitely understand and not laugh at you, if you say that."
Kirito's eyebrow flinched as Sans merely smirked as he closed one eye and looked to the side.
"anyway, look at the time. you gotta hurry, so i'll see you soon."
"W-Wait, Sans—!"
Sans turned around and looked at him dead in the eye.
"There's nothing more to be said, Kirito. Now get out there and bring back hope to those who lost it in the Town of Beginnings. We are all counting on all of you. I'm counting on you."
Kirito sighed and nodded. "Okay."
Sans smiled at his reply, "good. well then, see ya on the other floor."
They both turned around and began walking in opposite directions
Kirito looked back toward Sans and thought,
[Sans had changed... but he seemed normal to me.] He shook his head as he continued walking toward the dungeon, [...Maybe it's just our imagination.]
Little did Kirito knew, that if he were to see Sans' face at that moment, he could see the cold and emotionless expression etched on Sans' face.
And as time seemed to slow down as the distance between them grew, the two could only wonder what the fate had in store for them, for no one could have foreseen the events that would unfold next.
Author's Note:
ATTENTION!I'd like to warn you that I've decided that the Kirito in this story will slightly be OOC. Specifically, he'll become a bit more of an emo compared to who he is cannon, but don't worry, he won't become someone as emo as Sasuke Uchiha... maybe, lol. Point is, if you hate OOCs, well, sorry to disappoint that's just how I decide to roll... one thing for sure though, there won't be that much change to Kirito other than his personality.
...Probably should mention the fact that he'll lose his harem, but, oops! SPOILER ALERT!
Anyway, sorry, if it turned out badly… Midterm is coming up real soon and I was busy going on Baseball competition sooo sorry that I can't update regularly.
And goddamn it, this writer's block is killing me…
Thank you for those that reviewed and gave me their comments! Your faves and follow is greatly appreciated and it motivated me to continue this story.
I can't promise you great quality writings, nor can I promise you shorter/longer chapters, but I hope you enjoy reading what I write. Any constructive comments or ideas or questions can be sent via PM-ing me or Reviewing.
Well, that's all I guess. Without further ado,
See ya next chapt, Capt!
:v /