Trigger Warning: Death
Caring For A Rat: Part 14
"Let me go!" Argo ran as fast as she dared through the corridors of the Hidden Dungeon, taking care not to trip over the occasional jutting piece of debris. "Una-mama and Papa are still back there!"
Argo didn't respond, too focused on keeping Yui tucked under her arm as she rushed through the dungeon. It should have been safe, The Rat thought, It should have been safe. Oh there was an inherent level of danger involved, there always was when venturing into a dungeon.
But they were on the first floor, the safest floor in all of Aincrad, so why…
Why…
I woke up to the sound of my wife giggling.
Grumbling, I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, only for a weight across my chest to keep me from moving.
"They're so cute," Asuna breathed, and I heard a shutter click. Grudgingly, I forced my eyes open. It was just as much of a battle as it always was, but I thought it worth fighting, this time.
Blinking, I took in the room around me. It was a struggle to look around with the weight on my chest, but I could see Yui grinning at me from her bed. Kicking the mattress as she sat on the edge of her bed, eyes gleaming with mirth.
"So cute…" Asuna said again, taking another picture.
"Papa's up!" Yui chirped, jumping up off of her seat.
"Don't wake her up!" My wife said, quietly and sharply, walking around the bed to kneel in front of me, snapping another photo.
"Hello, Dear," I said, propping my head up on one arm.
"Just stay like that for a bit," Asuna muttered, completely disregarding my greeting. "Perfect!' she took yet another photo.
"What's so interesting?" It was about then that I felt the weight across my chest shift. With the shift came a soft breath that tickled the back of my neck every so often.
Asuna didn't answer my question verbally, but rather showed me one of her photos. It was taken from the foot of the bed, the light shining through the windows creating little golden streaks across the bedding.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Argo had rolled over and wrapped her arms around me. According to the picture, she was responsible for the weight against my chest, and the tickling sensation on the back of my neck.
I had to admit that she looked cute nestled up against me, but unfortunately she also needed to get up.
With some difficulty, I turned myself around in bed, so that I was facing Argo, and poked her nose. The Rat scrunched her face up, bringing the hand not laying over top of me up to rub at her nose.
The second she stopped rubbing, I poked her again. This time, instead of bringing a finger up to her nose, she instead started inhaling sharply, and with a sudden feeling of doom, I realized that Argo was about to sneeze.
I tried to roll out of bed, but the Rat pulled me closer, and sneezed all over my ear. I was lucky that Kayaba hadn't decided to code snot into his game, otherwise I would most likely need to clean out my ear. It really sucked that this was one of the few ways to rouse someone from sleep that didn't involve invasive manipulation of their menu.
I sighed, even as Asuna giggled. "Alright, Argo, time to wake up." Deciding against touching her sensitive nose for the time being, I instead patted her on the cheek.
"Munyah?" Argo nuzzled into my hand, rubbing her cheek into it. "Warm," The Rat muttered, and pulled me closer.
We were pressed up against each other now, and it was a battle of will to resist the alluring heat of her body against mine. Mattress were not helped by Argo's other hand caressing my chest. Was she dreaming? Was she awake and only thought that she was dreaming?
"Hey, Argo," I tried again as Asuna took another picture in the background. "You need to get up."
"Ugh," Argo groaned as I shook her shoulder, pushing herself up onto one arm. "Wha' is it Kii...bou…?" The info broker trailed off as she opened her eyes.
Our gazes held each other for a split second before Argo flicked a look downwards, taking in the position we had found ourselves in.
"I though' I told ya ta keep your hands ta yourself, Kii-bou," Argo said, lifting herself up into a sitting position. "Now how am I gonna get married?"
"Kirito's not the one who has to worry about grabbing things in his sleep," Asuna countered, flopping down onto the other side of the Info Broker, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "Who knew you were such a cuddlebug?" My wife murmured in Argo's ear, photo album open to a shot of her loosely spooning me, one arm slung over my side.
Argo didn't respond, simply staring at the pictures. "Are you okay, Argo?" I said hesitantly, gently shaking her shoulder.
"Guh," The Info Broker grunted, making no other sound, simply staring at the photo.
"Argo?" Asuna tried, flicking the picture closed. The Info Broker disentangled herself from both the sheets and the two of us, plodded into the bathroom, and shut the door. There was a faint click of a lock.
After spending five minutes trying to reach her via messages, We decided to have breakfast while waiting. Yui babbled throughout breakfast about the photos of me that she had edited yesterday, showing my wife some of them that she hadn't gotten the chance to show her yesterday.
I took Asuna's ribbing in good humor, making exaggerated poses similar to the ones in the photos so that they could laugh at me. It was in the middle of one of those poses, with my sword carefully raised so as not to damage any of the chandeliers when A familiar laugh distracted me.
I stumbled off of the chair, narrowly avoiding banging my sword against a chandelier as Argo laughed at me from the doorway.
"Don't stop on my account," Argo smirked, leaning on one side of the doorframe, "Ya looked rather impressively silly."
"It's really nice to see you," I said, sliding back into my seat at the breakfast table. "Would you like breakfast?"
"Una-Mama made fried rice!" Yui shouted, before shoveling another large bite of pork, carrot, and rice into her mouth, promptly gagging on the size.
"I'm not sure I want any if it tastes tha' bad, squirt," Argo said, rubbing one hand over the top of Yui's head.
"Nooo, It's good!" Yui mock-whined in that manner of children who know they are playing a game.
"Sure it is squirt," Argo said, scruffing up Yui's hair. "We got anythin' else, Aa-chan?" The Info Broker settled into her seat as a giggling Yui ran her hands through her hair, trying to restore some order to the long locks.
"Just the rice, I'm afraid," Asuna said, serving out another bowl from her inventory. "Here, it should still have some heat."
"Aw, shucks," Argo said, taking the bowl and chopsticks, starting to eat at a quicker pace than I usually saw her eat at.
"Is Yulier going to be here soon?" I asked in between bites of my own food. If she was, I would be that much closer to being ready. If she wasn't, well Asuna had another bowl of fried rice ready.
Argo nodded, still taking bites at a fast pace. Asuna sped up her own consumption in response. Yui, on the other hand, had already finished her portion of fried rice, and was bouncing eagerly in her seat.
True to Argo's "word", there was a set of brisk, sharp knocks at the door not even ten minutes later. "I'll entertain Yui while you guys talk with Yulier," I said, getting up from my chair. Yui scrambled out of the chair herself, and Asuna shot me a look.
"You know I'd be happy to take care of her, right?"
"Yeah, but you're better at this sort of thing than I am, and Yui needs someone to play with." The girl in question was waving over to me frantically from one of the doorways, eager to play with me.
Asuna frowned again, but let me go to play with Yui while she and Argo met with the vice-captain of the Army.
"C'mon Papa!" Yui shouted, making a little hop, reaching up towards me. "I wanna ride on your back!"
At least this wouldn't be as hard as with Asuna, I thought to myself, kneeling down to let the little girl scramble up my back to sit on my shoulders.
"Mush!" My daughter said cheerfully, yanking on tufts of my hair. Internally, I thanked Kayaba once again for the one good thing in this game: pain was dulled, so my daughter's tugs were only twinging slightly rather than sharp jolts of pain like they would be in real life.
I took off at a steady pace down the corridor, making my daughter giggle by changing speeds and turning directions at her behest.
Argo and Asuna found me walking backwards up the stairs for Yui's amusement, the little girl delighting in the swaying motion of me desperately trying to keep my balance.
"Alright Yui, time to go," My wife said, plucking Yui from my shoulders and setting her on the ground. "We have quite a bit of ground to cover, and a dungeon to clear."
"A dungeon?" Yui's eyes lit up in curiosity, "I wanna see!"
"Well, that's where we're going."
"So this is where Thinker's trapped," I said, peering into the dark tunnel, lit only with a few torches. Yulier, the vice-captain of the Army had led us through the Black Iron Palace to a dusty storeroom. Once there, she tapped three tiles on the wall that on closer inspection were elevated slightly from the rest. The result had been part of the wall shimmering and fading away, to reveal a dungeon entrance.
"Supposedly," Argo said, glaring at Yulier.
"I'm certain he's down there." Yulier paid no attention to Argo, "He told me that Kibaou had found something that he wanted them to take a look at, and that he wouldn't need any weapons."
"And Thinker believed him?" Asuna asked skeptically. We knew that the leader of the Army was naive, in some ways, but rule one of SAO was 'always carry a weapon'. Evidently he hadn't read the rulebook.
"Not entirely," Yulier admitted. "He didn't tell me where he was going, but he sent me a message saying who he was with before he went into the dungeon. I kept an eye on Kibaou and Thinker's map icon's after that, and investigated after they split up."
"At least he wasn' a complete idio'," Argo said. She rolled her shoulders, and walked past me into the dungeon. She had been odd ever since she left the bathroom, and I didn't know why. It wasn't the first time we had shared a bed, and it wasn't even the first time that I'd woken up in her arms, but something about last night had aggravated the small Info Broker, and I needed to make it up to her somehow.
"Let's go," Yulier said, squaring her shoulders, only to be pulled back by Asuna.
"Yulier," The vice-captain of the KOB began, "I know you don't think much of yourself, but you have even more influence than Kibaou among the Army, and you need to stay here to keep what you can under control. If we end up failing and Thinker dies..."
I saw Yulier's eyes widen as she thought about it. She wasn't as well-known to the general public in Aincrad as Kibaou was, especially after the debacle of the 74th floor boss fight, but from what I knew, a good portion of the rank-and-file of the Army as well as most of the Squad Leaders looked to her for their orders.
And in her worry about Thinker, she had neglected her duties to them.
The Vice-commander of the Aincrad Liberation Force straightened, her eyes acquiring a new hardness. As she turned and walked away, I caught the beginning of a voice call.
"Marcus, grab Chuckles', Timonet's, and…"
"Well," Argo said, twirling her dagger, "Now that that's settled, let's get going."
"Do you want to wait outside Yui?" Asuna asked our daughter, kneeling down to look her in the eyes. The raven-haired girl shook her head, still examining the carvings in the depths of the Black Iron Palace.
"I want to stay with my Mamas and Papa,"
"Alright," Argo said, leaning against the entrance of the dungeon, "Let's go in, get Thinker, and get out." Left unsaid was the fact that keeping watch over Yui would be difficult, and if Yulier hadn't confirmed that Kibaou had managed to keep a weaponless Thinker alive, I would probably be staying back with Yui. As it was, we would just have to keep a close eye on her.
The stairs were darker than the Palace Storeroom outside, and as we moved farther and Farther away from the stairs, we started moving in a simple triangle formation, with Argo taking point, and Yui in the center. I trailed behind on the left, and Asuna covered the right. It was an effective formation I'd used before with both of them.
The frog-like beasts that came out of the walls were easily dispatched with one or two sword swings from any one of us, and Asuna and I made sure that they didn't distract Argo, who spent most of the time frowning at the ground.
The Rat, as the only one of us with both the tracking skill and Thinker on her friends list, had the "honor" of tracking down the far too trusting Thinker. Why he had left his weapons behind I had no idea, although he had at least been smart enough to warn Yulier who he was meeting.
Especially given that even Argo didn't know about this dungeon, though she had guessed that it was likely meant as an end-game challenge for High-level or even Max-level players. So far, I wasn't seeing it.
"Are you doing okay, Yui?" I spared a glance at the smallest member of our expedition, who had been silent ever since we had started our descent. It made me worried, how quiet she was being. Normally she was a barely-contained ball of energy, and even when she walked, she bounced, her hair rippling from her motions. Now, in the dim light of the torches, she reminded me more of the ghost she was rumored to be.
The dungeon was probably reminding her of where she had been trapped before losing her memory.
"Yeah, we are," Argo said, disrupting the comfortable pattern we had settled into. "Shoul' be jus' aroun' this corner."
"Thank goodness," Asuna said, loosening her grip on her rapier slightly, "Let's get Thinker and get out of here."
The four of us turned the corner, and I felt a chill run down my back.
This was a boss corridor.
They always took the same form in dungeons; A long, narrow corridor of whatever material the dungeon was made of, sometimes with alcoves evenly spaced along the walls. They always had a foreboding air to them, even the ones on the first floor.
I didn't know what sort of boss there would be in here, but I didn't want to find out.
At the end of the corridor, I saw a white glow, presumably the safe zone. The boss was nowhere to be seen.
"Let's get Thinker, and get out of here," Asuna said, her body tense as we moved down the corridor. Every little sound was a sign that the boss might be upon us, and even a floor sixty boss, which should be around the same as this boss in power, could kill any one of us if we acted carelessly.
"Thinker, over 'ere!" Argo called, waving to the trapped leader as we approached the safe zone. The panic that shot through the man's face was painful to watch, and he almost sprinted out of the safe zone, running towards us.
"Run you fools!" He shouted, "It's-" I caught him as he tried to run past us, struggling as he tried desperately to disentangle himself from my grip. I heard a scraping sound resonate throughout the corridor, and Thinker went stiff. "It's here," He whimpered.
"Kirito!" I heard my wife scream, and on instinct, I threw myself backwards, dragging Thinker with me. A massive scythe cut through the air in front of me, the shockwave making me stumble. A chattering sound filled the air, and when I looked up, I saw it's source.
The cloaked figure emerged from the alcove that I had just moved past, and pulled back it's hood with a bony hand, revealing a gleaming white skull.
The skeleton was enormous, easily twice my size, carrying a scythe that was even bigger. It's dark robe had let it blend in with the wall concealing its presence until it had struck. It's eyes gleamed red, their hatred and contempt filling me with unease. Above the Boss's head, five health bars filled in one by one, and the name above that shot fear through my heart.
[Dungeon Boss: The Fatal Scythe Lvl: ?]
I couldn't read it's level.
I grasped Dark Repulser, and drew it as quickly as I could, shoving Thinker out of the way of another blow from the Boss's scythe. Dungeon bosses weren't like the floor bosses found in labyrinths; they had a set level, or in some cases, a set range of them, that they spawned at. My tracking skills allowed me to read the level of any mob up to fifty levels above mine, even the ones normally hidden.
This wasn't a foe I could fight.
It belonged somewhere on the ninetieth floor, not the first.
But I needed to delay it, to give time for my family to get to safety.
"Argo!" I called out as Asuna lunged in from the side, inflicting a miniscule amount of damage onto the first health bar. She should have left it to me. I was more disposable. "Take Yui and Go!"
"No!" My daughter yelled back, breaking the silence she had been in for the entirety of the trip through the dungeon. "Una-mama, Papa, you-"
"I got her!" Argo shouted, grabbing Yui around the waist and slinging her under one arm, "Don't you dare die, you hear me!" The Info broker shouted as Yui struggled in her grip, pounding her back with tiny fists that did no damage. "Don't you dare die!"
I didn't answer, already diving in for an attack as a blow from the massive scythe clipped my wife, sending her flying back, missing a quarter of her health bar.
The chattering laughter of the boss rang through the corridor as I deflected a heavy blow. The weight of the scythe shaving off a large chunk of my health.
Behind me, Argo carried a kicking and screaming Yui into the darkness of the hidden dungeon, Thinker following close behind. The last thing I heard before the chattering laughter of the boss overwhelmed everything was Yui screaming.
"Una-Mama!" my daughter cried as she was carried to safety, desperately reaching her arms out as if she tried just a little bit harder, stretched the tiniest bit more, she could reach us.
"Papa!"
