AN: Apologize about the missed upload, my laptop's finally back so my uploads will be more reliable now that my powerhouse is back.
Arc 3: Hazel Eyes Meet Obsidian Part 4
Kirito's breath caught in his throat.
Asuna was beautiful.
Was this really Lisbeth's friend? The so-called commander herself?
The girl looked nothing like the sporty pink haired tomboy, to the point that Kirito could literally tell that their personalities were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Lisbeth was most of a friendly fireball, whereas this Asuna gave off an aura of calm power and leadership.
Asuna had lightly tanned skin with the faintest traces of a sunburn around her nose and tops of her cheeks, gentle but vibrant freckles dusting over every inch of her face, and her feminine features from her button nose to her thin eyebrows showed a calm, almost… peace. Her eyes were the color of honey with a bit more of a deep amber color with a thin ring of startling blue in her irises that gave off an aura of power and leadership.
Her hair was long and silky straight, reaching just past her hips with an iconic thin braid going along the sides of her head to tie together at the back. It was a strawberry blonde that seemed fully natural, a color not quiet ginger but not quite blonde either. Something in him told him that she had a sibling, someone who looked very different from her, but he couldn't be sure.
Her jumpsuit was beautiful and carefully tailored to bring out the best in the girl adorned in pure white and royal red. With a white chest and loose sleeves vaguely similar to Argo's the outfit gave a calm but powerful aura to match it's owner with it's slender tapers at the waist, rich fabric in light ruffles skimming the sides of her chest morphing from the simple ends of a beautiful red cloak to a lightly ruffled pattern the widened the focal point of her chest while simultaneously lying low over her stomach in a simple but elegant diagonal way toward her right side where the fabric vanished. Blending into the thick elegant red along her sides that wrapped around her hips to form a white elegant mock skirt with beautiful red and icy blue trim. The two colors contrasting together but emphasizing her power and the beauty in those thin rings of blue within her eyes.
A cloak adorned her back with a sleek collar with thin white crosses at the corners of the deep red fabric with beautiful swirling blue trimming and the mock skirt ended to a fine mesh up to her lower calves, where boots the color of silver with red lining above the white soles began and adorned her feet. They had a slim folded over zigzag patterned zipper with a slender metal toe and rings of silver moving upward toward the top of the boot.
Unlike Lisbeth and Argo, she didn't wear a visible weapon, as though she had enough confidence in her fighting abilities to protect herself mostly unarmed. Or… judging by the shield on Lisbeth's back and the dagger holstered snuggly at her thigh, Lisbeth could easily be the girl's body guard.
But… the blue in Asuna's eyes that were brought out even further by the hints of blue within her outfit…
It reminded Kirito of the stubborn cowlick at the back of his head that practically defied physics. A cowlick that resembled wings of some kind.
Was she there through the event that gave him that cowlick and changed his sister's hair to have light blonde ends that never seemed to grow out to change? Like they defied the world and logic. Almost… almost like they were touched by magic-
"Cool your jets, Blackie," Lisbeth sighed and grabbed Kirito by the collar before he could fly off again and slam into the game barrier for the second time. "Look, you doing that kind of dumbass stunt is getting us nowhere so plant your feet on the ground before I prove that my hammer skills apply here too. At least have the decency to talk to your sister and not leave her with Silica while I chase your ass across the city and stop you from smashing your brains out on a game barrier."
"Shut it Liz, I can get there okay? I have to!"
"My god, Kirito, Asuna isn't going to suddenly die being up there for another thirty minutes alright?" Lisbeth groaned, "geeze, I get you're worried about her and all of us are confused what the hell happened here, but that doesn't mean you can just go off being an idiot and force us to put up with it."
"You don't understand-!" he knew he had said the wrong thing when Lisbeth's brown eyes, since she didn't have contacts here, sparked in that way that told him she was about to kick his ass and lay into him for that comment. Esepcially when they both knew that she did understand.
God, he was an idiot, wasn't he?
The leprechaun fairy promptly tightened her grip on his collar and all but threw him to the ground. Throwing him the last ten feet to the ground with enough force to crack and smash the concrete on the ground open underneath his body.
"Liz, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking-" he tried to apologize to the girl as her metal boots clinked against the ground as she landed and her wings vanished into thin air.
"You bet that you weren't thinking, asshat," Lisbeth spat in turn as she approached, "instead you were so dead set on what you have going on that you forgot about the rest of us!"
Kirito winced, he really hadn't meant to ignore and forget about his friends. He was just confused and honestly panicking. His wife was up some tall tree being held by some unknown being, they were trapped in another videogame literally a finger's width away from escaping SAO, and his sister was suddenly here.
But that still didn't give him the right to ignore everyone else. Especially Lisbeth, since she understood exactly what he was going through. After all, the girl had been so angry to be somewhere like this, a fantasy videogame that she hadn't listened to him when he told her to stay back with Silica when they had found Sugu being surrounded by Salamanders as they later learned. Instead, she had run straight into them all with her shield and promptly let Kirito protect her back as she chose to use her fists to kick the ass of the lead player rather than use a weapon even if she had one.
Not that he blamed her for it, he would've done it too if he had the same thick metal armor like she did.
"We're in a fantasy world where your partner is safe and up in a tree while I don't know where the hell my partner is, instead I have to protect a ten year old who's practically my daughter because she was part of the raid! So shut you whining and be the strategist you've been for the past three and a half years before I throw you into the lake for being an asshole and to see if I can actually make that cowlick go down!"
"Yes ma'am…"
This was why he didn't mess with Lisbeth when she was in mama bear mode.
But he was grateful that at least one of them had their heads on straight, since clearly he was doing a horrible job doing that.
Kirito blinked and recoiled with the knife being stabbed through his head while someone was stabilizing him, carefully keeping him upright and it wasn't Lisbeth. He could tell by how the person's fingers weren't covered by gloves.
Rather, they were slender bare fingers wrapped around his upper arm, keeping him stable while he woozily wobbled a little on his feet. Feeling particularly nauseous after this particular memory. One that he knew had to deal with the cowlick on his head but didn't know the actual details of it.
To his left, Lisbeth was calmly holding onto his clothes and gear while looking at him with concern, obviously concerned by the amount of memories he was experiencing here. "Asuna, he's not looking too good…"
A voice to his near right responded, namely Asuna. "I know," she raised her voice, "Argo, I need someone else to help me bring Kirito to Yuna in the medical bay." She spoke calmly, giving an order without yelling and Argo responded swiftly.
"Yes ma'am," the words sounded a bit funny coming from someone who had a very informal accent, "Kuroshiro, yer tall, go 'elp da commander with Kirito 'en come back 'ere."
"Sure," he didn't add a fancy quip, likely taking in the fact that Argo herself sounded so serious, just like Asuna did. "I'll just leave these right here… right, coming, Kirito~"
"Lisbeth," Asuna spoke up again while Kirito's world spun dizzily, "take over for me while I'm gone, I'll teach Kirito what he needs to know once he's recovered." his arm was lifted over someone's shoulders, "message me before the entrance ceremony starts and I will bring him here and make sure he doesn't miss it."
"Yes, commander."