A/N: Rokel's a nice lad isn't he? I think Lightning could agree. Now if only they can rescue the guild from the Nightmare Queen, the fifth floor boss. How can they do that if they are going to be trapped within their own fears?


UNKNOWN

I suddenly awaken, paralyzed in my own anxiety. I don't understand what just happened. The last thing I remember was wondering a dungeon with Rokel, the little boy who reminds me of Hope, now I'm somewhere else.

As soon as I get some feeling back and start to calm down, I take in the situation around me...What's going on?

I sit up from my bed, I'm back in my own room in the real world. How is this possible? Not only that, but my vision seems to return to normal. No health bar or the time of day on the corners. I look down at my lap, to see I'm wearing my Guardian Corps uniform. I don't understand this, have I returned to the real world? But how?

I get up out of bed, slowly and gently. This is strange. After being trapped in a game, I'm expected to collapse from lack of strength and energy, but instead, I'm just fine.

"What...what is..." I walk right out of my room.

Every detail of the building I'm in is actually like my own house. I check everywhere on the upper floor. The bathroom, Serah's room, Hope's room, my parents' old bedroom, my fathers' study. Every detail is just the same. I decided to go downstairs, I can feel the anxiety building up inside of me. This is my home yet everything feels so unfamiliar to me.

When I'm on the ground level, I hear some noise coming from the kitchen. My soldier instincts kick in. I reach for my weapon hanging from my back holster, only there's nothing but thin air. Then I try to reach from behind where my Gunblade hangs in the real world, nothing as well.

I have no weapon, but that doesn't stop me. I creep into the kitchen. Once I'm inside, I see a certain pink hair girl by the kitchen sink, doing dishes.

"S...Serah?" Serah turns around. She smiles looking at me.

"Good morning, Lightning." She says.

'Good morning'? That's all I get? I have been gone for nearly a whole month trapped in some online death game...wait, why am I back in the real world and not in Warlords Wrath Online?

I'm in a mix of shock and confusion. "Serah...what...what's going on?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Serah asks.

"It's just...I was trapped in some death game with Hope...Warlords Wrath Online." I say.

Serah giggles. "You must have been dreaming, Light. There's no game called 'Warlords Wrath Online'."

"No, no. I'm serious. Hope bought this Warlords game and...an announcement went out that it's a death game so I went in to help him...I was stuck in that game for a month or two..."

Serah just looks confused. She walks up until she's right in front of me. She puts a hand on my forehead. "You are feeling okay? You having a fever or something?"

I open my mouth but no words come out. I just don't understand what's going on. One minute, I'm in Warlords Wrath Online, but now...I'm home? I just decided to play along, I let out a sigh.

"N-no. I'm, I'm fine." I remove Serah's hand from my head. "I probably just need some air."

I turn to leave the kitchen. "Okay. Take care, sis."

I just walk close to the wall with my hand on it. I still feel unease, deep inside I can feel anxiety taking over. What's wrong with me? Was the whole thing really just a dream? Warlords Wrath Online. Hope being trapped. Me diving into that death game to save him.

I open the door and walk right outside, only as soon as I'm outside, I gasp at what I'm seeing. What used to be the beautiful seaside city of Bodhum is now a foggy graveyard.

"What the?" I quickly turn around to see my house is gone, and it was only five inches behind me. I pant heavily, I don't know what's going on but it's starting to freak me out.

I take a slow walk around the graveyard, I can barely make out what I'm seeing ahead. Beyond the fog, I see two shadows. Not humans but tombstones. As I draw closer, the fog around the tombstones starts to clear and I can nearly make out what it is. The two graves are not a pleasant sight to see, for they carry the last name: Farron.

They're my parents' graves.

I can feel my heart beating through my chest. "What...is happening to me?" Normally when I visit my parents, I'm not overwhelming with anxiety. Why is this happening?

I turn away from the graves, only that doesn't help with my situation. There's another tombstone. But my heart suddenly stops at the name it's engraved:

Hope Estheim.

I'm paralyzed in terror. "No...this can't...this can't be!"

Hope is...dead. I swore that I would protect him, keep him safe from any harm. Nora's words echo in my head: "Take care of Hope." Her final wish. A promise I made to her and Hope.

I can't take this anymore. I start running away from the tombstone, into the thick fog. I can hear my heart beating like crazy. Soon enough, I trip on some tombstone and fall, only when I hit the ground, it's not the grass but floor tiles.

I'm panicking. I have no idea what's going on. I'm now on my knees, to see I'm in some hospital. I'm in the hallway at the moment. I look around, turning and walking. Something strange is going on, but I can't make out what it is. I suddenly stopped as soon as I hear someone crying.

I walk into the room where it's coming from. There's nothing but darkness, but as soon as I walk through the door, the darkness lifts, and I can clearly see.

It's my sister Serah. She's crying with her head on the hospital bed on her knees. Snow is behind her trying to support her. While I am lying dead on the bed with the Nervegear on. I silently gasp seeing myself. How is this possible? How am I seeing myself?

"Why...why did she have to enter that death game?" Serah asks. "First I've lost my parents and now my own sister is gone."

I wondered what it is that she's talking about, but then I notice something from my ears. The heart monitor is...flat. My eyes shot open realizing that I am now dead.

I stumble backward, crashing into a table of medical tools. I collapse, but I was able to put my hand on the wall to prevent falling, with my other hand on my chest. I can't stop hyperventilating.

"What is going on?" I ask in fear.

Deep chuckle echoes in the sky, then a growling deep voice speaks. "Yes! Succumb to the abyss of fears! Your own terror feeds me!"

Terror...terror. My breath stops in a gasp as I remembered something. 'Time for you to drown in your Abyszzzal fearzzz!' When that sentence echoes in my head, I make a run for it. I leave the hospital room to enter another scenery change. I'm back in my old room at home.

I kept running until I stop in front of my bed, on my knees my hands on the soft mattress. I breathe heavily, I try hard to calm down but I can't. I hear footsteps approaching from behind but I don't bother to turn to see who it is.

"Lightning?" It's Serah. "Are you okay?"

"I'm still in the game," I whispered.

"What was that?" Serah asks.

I get on my feet, turning towards Serah. "I'm still in the game!" Serah looks shocked but tries to hide it. I can tell she's somehow involved.

Serah makes a change of expression, smiling with a silly giggle. "Oh come on, Lightning. Don't be silly. You're not in some-"

"Don't deny it!" I say to her. "This isn't the real world. This is Warlords Wrath Online!" I point at Serah. "You're not Serah! You're just some...some illusion of the game!"

Serah looks hurt. "Lightning! How could you say that? I'm your sister!"

I start to grab the lamp on my nightstand. "No! Your! NOT!" I toss the lamp at Serah. It hits her right in the face. Serah screams as the impact causes her to turn aside.

I stand and watch to see if I'm right. Serah stands straight, facing me. I look at the cut on Serah's face. Instead of blood, it's damaged data. I was right! This is all still apart of Warlords Wrath Online.

Serah smirks evilly. By the time I realize that it's too late. The ground beneath me is covered in dark magic, then shadow rings circles around and tightens me. I can't move. I become lifted from the ground.

"A clever one you are." Those insect wings spread from Serah's back. They flutter as Serah floats a few feet off the ground. "But you cannot escape from your imprisonment."

Serah casts painful dark magic at me, it's burning my insides. I scream in agony. Even though I can't see my Health Bar, I know it's dropping.

"So...as long as you're still alive. I think you should see your little friend one last time." Serah casts a dark portal in front of me.

My little friend? Is she talking about Hope? No, I'm wrong. As soon as a vision appears, It's not Hope that's in it. It's Rokel. Rokel is wearing glasses and is in a simple black vest long sleeve shirt and tan pants. I'm guessing this is him in the real world. Is this what he's dreaming?

I'm guessing it is, cause soon enough some boy comes right in. He's pretty big for Rokel. The boy pushes Rokel down. "Where's my math homework, dork?"

Seeing this just makes me mad. I don't tolerate bullying. "No! I'm done with you, Tyler!" Rokel says. "You're not bullying me anymore!"

"Oh yeah!" This Tyler guy starts pounding the daylights out of Rokel. After a minute of this, the vision changes. Rokel is with two adults that I assume are his parents. Rokel looks beaten, I'm guessing it's later that day.

"Oh, sweetie. Did this Tyler bully do this to you?" The mother says.

Rokel only answers with a nod. A small conversation goes on. To my surprise, I learned that his real name is Eugene. My boiling feelings return when I see Tyler arrive on the scene.

"Hey, squirt. You learned your lesson?" Tyler says.

The father stands in front of Tyler, blocking his view from Rokel. "Eugene is done with you! You bullying him around just proves you're nothing more than a coward!"

Tyler just smirks. "Is that so?" I have a bad feeling about this. "If I were a coward, would I do something like..." He reaches into the pocket of his jacket. "Oh, I don't know...THIS!"

In a single second, he takes out a gun and shoots the father. I gasp horrible seeing this, that is just awful. The father falls dead, Rokel and the other are shocked seeing this as well. What's next is Tyler shoots the mother, killing her.

"Mom! Dad!" Rokel shouts.

The boy looks terrified. Tyler points the gun at him. "You belong to me now, dork! You'll do what I say or else!"

Rokel just cries in both sorrow and fear. I have never imagined anything like this would happen in all of my years. In the next few sceneries, the vision of Rokel's nightmare is nothing worth explaining, all through one of them shows why he has such an impulse to be crushing on girls. He's desperate for a girlfriend, needs some love and support since he no longer has his parents, but every girl turns him down. Thinking he's such a weakling being someone's pet.

There was even this one vision where I saw him at his homecoming dance...without a date.

I've had enough of this. I open my hand, focusing my power. I visualize my sword in my hand. It takes a while, but it finally appears in my hand, the Serpent Blade from the Faithless One. I set the blade to line up by me since I can't move my hand around, then I cut myself free from the dark rings.

Free from the spell, I land on my feet. Serah looks surprised. "What!?" Shouting, I hold my sword back as it charges up, then do a sonic strike on my sister.

Serah stands frozen in place. I can hear her gasp in agony, then she shatters. I stand straight and turn, to see the thousands of light shards vanishing in the air. Just then, a rumbling noise happens. Everywhere, walls and objects shatter. The world starts breaking until there's nothing but a void of darkness.


DECEMBER 2ND, 2022. FLOOR 5, ELITE DUNGEON

My Health Bar and Rokel's return to my corner vision. I only have 300 HP left while Rokel is slowly draining. I open my eyes to see nothing but shattered hard amber and my arms partly covered in orange goo. I moan as I sit up. What happened? Was I asleep in some pod?

I get back on my feet and look up, it's those pods I saw before the boss attacked. Is it possible that Rokel and his guild are in them? I have to find a way to break them free before they die.

"NO MORE EXCUSES QUEEN!" I flinched a turn hearing that. I remember that voice, I heard it before I realized I was in some kind of nightmare. The monster is those giant dark creatures like the Faithless One and Fury Rage, only he's purple and red like the lesser ones in this dungeon. I can see right through it. I'm guessing it's only an image of it. It's not real. "ELIMINATE THESE CRETINS OR I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!"

"Yezzz mazzzter!" The Nightmare Queen says. 'Master'? I should have known, this insect is being controlled. "You-you-you may have ezzzcaped! But you will zzzoon meet your end."

The Nightmare Queen does a deafening screech. I can see the sonic waves coming at me. I block it, but the waves are powerful, it pushes back with my feet planted to the ground. My HP is now down to 239, a red zone.

The Nightmare Queen has a health bar left while I have roughly 20% of my own left. It's a Sudden Death challenge.

I hold my Sword and Shield out...No. I don't need the shield. I drop the shield to my side, it's now just sword and...claws and screeches.

The Nightmare Queen roars and charges at me. I just stand to tell like a rock in place. The monster is right in front of me to strike at me, only I dodged that strike at the last second. Shortly afterward, I strike on the Nightmare Queen's right front leg.

The Nightmare Queen does a few other strikes, I dodge then counterstrike at it. This goes on for a while until I manage to cut off its left front leg. The torn leg shatters. The Nightmare Queen is now at 20% of its last health bar. The Nightmare Queen takes flight, right in the center of every opening of this room.

The Nightmare Queen screeches loudly, nonstop. Countless amounts of Sonic Blasts rains down on the floor. I evade the sonic blasts, but they just keep coming hard and fast I can barely keep up avoiding them. Soon enough, one of them hits me and knocks me back. I now have 58 HP left. I feel weak and light-headed. I have to find a way to bring this creature down.

I look up at the walls, I've got an idea. I make my way to the walls, zig-zagging across the field to avoid the sonic blasts. Once I'm at a close enough range, I leap onto the wall, start running up against it. I can hear the Nightmare Queen done with its sonic blasts, probably cause I'm running up the wall. I look over my shoulder, to see it's spitting amber. The goo bolts are flying towards me.

I avoid them as I run up the wall. Once I'm above the boss's level, I leap towards it. I turn facing it, holding my blade out. Nightmare Queen charges up another amber spit for me, but it's too late.

I pierce right through the boss like an arrow with my sword held in front. I land on the ground with a roll then stop on my hands and knees. I hear the Nightmare Queen screeching in agony then it shatters. I stand and turn around to see millions of light shards that used to be the boss are fading in the air.

The image of the large creature yells in frustration. "USELESS! FALL LIMP AND DIE BEFORE ME! WRETCHED INSECT! YOUR KIND ARE WORTHLESS TO ME!" The monster glares at me. "AS FOR THE REST OF YOU! SEEK ME IF YOU DARE! LIKE THE OTHERS: YOU WILL ALL DIE SCREAMING!" The creature laughs wickedly evil as it slowly vanishes.

A large "Congratulations" appears in the center of the room. I earn my results, some Krystals, and a shoulder gear: Weight of Midnight.

I open my menu to equip the shoulders. they are black spiky shoulders with a black thin aura glowing around them. I look up to see the pods hanging from the ceiling cracking, then they fall. One-by-one, they break and the trapped players awaken. A Crusader, Cleric, Assassin, Wizard, Avatar, and finally Rokel.

My exhaustion gets the best of me and I end up collapsing on my knees and hand. "Lightning!" Rokel rushes up to me and kneels in front. "You okay?"

"I'm fine...just exhausted," I say.

"But you're Health, is very low." Rokel turns. "Aerith. Can you heal her?"

A short red hair 10-year old Cleric girl stands in front of me. She chants a healing spell. Once she's done, My health is fully restored. The dizziness and weak exhaustion quickly fade away. I'm able to stand on my feet again.

The rest of the people gathers. "Rokel? How did you get here?" The Crusader asks.

"Uh...With her." Rokel says pointing at me.

Everyone looks at me confused. "Yeah...I came here with Rokel to help you guys on the boss fight." I look around to see there's no one but the one guild. "Did you guys try to face it alone?"

"No, we did it with an Assault Team of fifteen players." The Avatar says. "Two died in the fight...I'm guessing the rest must have died off from the nightmares that thing put us into."

"So you two...fought off Nightmare Queen on your own?" The Crusader asks.

"Not really. I mean, Rokel and I were fighting it when it had 30% of its health left, but then it put us in those pods." I say. "After I escaped I finished it off."

"Wow. That's impressive." The Crusader says. "Well, thank you for helping us out there. If you and Rokel haven't shown, we would have been dead meat. Say, how about we buy you a drink as a thanks?"

Strange people are inviting me over for a drink. I think carefully about the situation. These guys seem friendly, and I did help them in their situation. I look at Rokel who's giving that innocent plead smile holding hands together as a child would do to their parents.

"Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt. Very well, I accept your offer." I say.

They are happy to hear that, then we move onto the next floor. Floor number six.