A/N
Surprise! Immediate upload of chapter 2! (Hunter, you actually planned this story?)
Chapter 2 (The Sword Swingers)
Night had ultimately fallen. Echo wandered through the trees that surrounded him. Moonlight shone down, giving off enough light to see in the dark.
He drudged along, dragging his feet across the grass. His arms dangled limp at his sides. All that was left on his face was blankness.
As he walked, the trees began clearing ahead. He exited the forest, entering the moonlit open field. Echo's dark eyes glanced upward, moonlight getting caught in them.
He surveyed the small mountain nearby. At its base lied a pitch black cave. Echo turned around and drew his sword. Walking up to a tree, he grabbed a branch and chopped it off.
Opening his menu, he stored the branch into the inventory. Afterward, Echo sliced downward on the tree's wood. Sheets of bark fell. Taking them to his hand, he stored them in the inventory as well.
He turned and made his way to the cave. While on the way, he gazed up to the full moon one more time.
Upon entering the cave, Echo bent over to grab a grey stone. It seemed out of place given that the cave consisted of different shades of brown. He continued walking for only a moment before stopping.
Faint light emanated from his menu when he opened it. Even with its light, he could barely see anything inside the cave. Holding out his hand, the branch from earlier materialized into his hand. He flicked it to the ground.
Then, the sheets of bark materialized into his hand. He flicked those as well. Bending down to the pile, Echo pressed a button in his menu which made the wood glow. Pressing another button transformed the pile into a fireplace.
He drew his sword once more. Taking the grey stone to his hand, he pressed another button that made the items in his hands glow slightly. Echo scraped the blade against the grey stone, sending sparks raining down on the fireplace.
The cave quickly, but gradually, illuminated with orange light. One scrape of the grey stone was all it took. Crackling filled the atmosphere as the embers floated up the cave's ceiling.
He stored the stone into his inventory, then sheathed his blade. Echo removed the sword from his back and placed it against the cave wall. Then, he sat down and leaned against the cave wall himself. He placed his hands in his armpits, bundling himself up.
Echo watched the embers float up to the cave's ceiling. Once they reached the top, they had nowhere else to go. Thus, the embers scurried along the rocky ceiling before dissipating.
Light from the fire flickered in his face as well as his dark eyes. The expression on his face remained as blank as before.
"You alright there, bud?" Echo said to nothing and no one in particular. The fireplace crackled almost as if in response.
"I just wish we could go home," Echo said, replying to himself.
"Oh come on now, we're home all the time. A couple days out won't hurt anybody," Echo continued the back and forth with himself.
"Yeah, but we're really far out, dad."
Echo dawned a small smile. "Yeah, you're right. Best make the most out of it, huh?"
"I mean, I guess."
"Do you know why people like to vacation away from home?"
"To have fun?"
He paused for a moment. Echo's expression grew sincere, light from the fire flickering in his eyes. "To see things we can't normally see."
His eyes focused up toward the embers colliding with the cave ceiling. Echo's eyelids weighed heavily. He gave in, shutting his eyes.
Morning. Light glowed from the mouth of the cave and onto Echo's face. Voices emanated in the distance. He slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath, letting out a yawn.
The fireplace had gone out. Only ash and faint embers remained. Echo furrowed his eyebrows toward the direction of the voices. They were difficult to discern. However, they sounded intense.
Echo opened his menu and glanced at the clock.
"Almost 10," he sighed to himself.
He rose to his feet, placed the sword on his back, and made his way outside the cave. A singular wolf had been surrounded by three people. One of them a boy and the other two were girls.
Echo watched them as he squinted his eyes from the sunlight.
"Go for it, Liza!" the boy encouraged.
The girl with red hair charged at the wolf from behind. She slashed it. Only to receive a scrape from the wolf's teeth.
"I hit it!" she exclaimed with joy.
"Okay, Hunter, your turn!" the girl with short blonde hair stated.
The boy charged at the wolf head on. He went for the stab, but the wolf sidestepped. It then bit into his ribs, knocking him over. The boy grunted when he took damage.
"Hunter!" Liza yelled.
The wolf thrashed its teeth deeper into the boy's ribs as he attempted to swipe at it with his sword.
Echo stepped toward the group. He yelled out to them.
"Hey!" The girls turned to him. He drew his sword and positioned it behind his back. The blade proceeded to glow blue. "Use a sword skill! Do exactly what I'm doing right now!"
The girl with short blonde hair quickly copied his stance. Her sword glowed blue as well. Echo noticed.
"Charge at the wolf!" Echo commanded.
She sprinted toward her friend whilst roaring aloud. A sharp line illuminated through the wolf, cause it to yelp in pain. The girl had landed ahead of her friend. Behind her, the wolf burst into glimmering pixels.
Liza ran over to them and helped Hunter to his feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I know it looked bad, but it didn't do too much damage."
The group turned toward Echo. They jogged over to him.
"Hey, thanks for teaching us how to do that sword attack thing," the blonde girl said smiling.
"Yeah, it really saved my ass there," Hunter said sheepishly.
"No problem. And that sword attack thing, it's called a sword skill. They're really powerful, and learning a few'll help you survive this game," Echo explained.
"Wow, so there's more?" Liza asked.
"Yup. Not gonna lie, they make you look pretty cool too," Echo said with a small chuckle.
"We actually came out here to level up. You wanna join up with us for a bit and teach us some more skills? Only if you want though, no pressure or anything," the blonde girl offered.
"Uh..." Echo hesitated. He looked up toward his red icon, taking an extra moment.
"If you don't want to, it's totally fine, man. Really," Hunter said.
He looked at the group for one more second. "Actually... I will. I came out here to level up too, and being with a group would be much easier and safer."
"Hell yeah! This'll be fun!" Liza exclaimed.
Smiles were shared all around.
"I'm Echo, by the way."
"I'm Gale," the blonde girl said. "This is Hunter."
"Sup," the boy said.
"And this is Liza."
"What he said," she pointed at Hunter.
"And we're the..." Gale trailed off as she smiled nervously at her friends.
"We're the Sword Swingers," Hunter said.
"Fuckin' lame, dude," Liza stated in monotone.
Gale turned her attention back to Echo. Whilst smiling jovially, "it's a work in progress."
Echo smiled in amusement. "So, were you guys planning on grinding the whole day?"
"After everything that's happened, we have all of the motivation right now. So yeah," Liza said.
"Right. I know about a quest nearby that'll give us more experience than wolves or boars. Plus, it'll be less boring. What do you say?"
"That sounds great, man. You're awesome," Hunter said.
"Okay, follow me then."
The group walked closely together.
"I take it you've played this game before," Gale commented.
"Yeah," Echo said simply. "I was a beta tester for the game."
"Wow, we're really lucky to have you then," Liza said. "Makes us feel more secure about ourselves knowing someone with experience wants to share that with us."
"Glad you feel that way."
"Do you have any other beta tester friends?" Gale asked.
"I did, but I wasn't friendly enough with them to play with them now."
"Oh, I see. Are you the solo type?"
"I don't want to be," Echo said simply.
"You seem really cool. Maybe after this, you could roll with us for a while," Hunter suggested.
Echo stared forward into nothing in particular. "...I'll think about it."
Gale tilted her head at his statement, observing the plainness in his expression.
"Little contradictory there, doncha think?" Liza asked.
"I have something I need to do. At the same time, it's something I don't need to do..." Echo looked away, curving his lips to one side. "Guess it depends on what I decide."
Hunter asked, "well, what do you need to do? I mean, if-"
"Hunter," Gale interrupted. "It's not our place to ask."
"Oh... Shit, sorry, Echo."
"No worries."
Liza cocked her elbow back and drove it into Hunter's side. He let out a small grunt in response.
"Quest shouldn't be too far now."
The group continued walking. Up ahead, a lone cabin resided on a grassy slope. Smoke rose skyward from its brick chimney.
"Hey, that's a cozy-looking house," Liza commented.
"That's where the quest is," Echo added.
"What's the quest?" Gale asked.
"Well, I don't know exactly what the quest will be. I just know where it is."
"What if we have to fight a dragon?" Hunter asked.
"More experience for us then, right?" Liza chimed in.
They arrived to the cabin. Before getting close it, a girl opened the door and waved at them.
"Hey!" she said out loud.
The girl appeared to be 8 years old. She ran up to the group.
"Hi there," Gale said cheerily.
"I'm so happy you stopped by! Will you help me?" the girl said.
"What do you need, sweetie?" Liza asked.
"Well..." The girl looked down and away. "My uncle recently passed away... And... his wolf ran away because it was really sad. I was hoping... you could find the wolf."
"Aw, poor wolfie," Hunter said. "Don't worry, we'll find it for you."
A digital prompt appeared in front of everyone. It read, "accept quest?"
They all pressed the button to accept.
"Thank you so much!" the girl said. "Now, I know there are a lot of wolves out there. But this one has half of its left ear missing. You'll see it easy."
"Where do you think we should start looking?" Liza asked.
"He should be somewhere in the forest nearby."
"Okay. We'll find that wolf for you," Gale said. "Let's go."
The group began making their way to the forest.
"Thanks again! Be careful out there!" the girl said, waving at them.
They traveled amongst the trees for some time. It did not take long before they encountered wolves. The pack had surrounded them with their teeth all flared. Drawing their swords, Echo spoke to his new companions.
"Stay loose and relaxed, okay? I'm gonna challenge you by making you beat them all. If anyone gets into trouble, I'll bail you out."
"Um- what if they overwhelm us?" Hunter asked.
"Don't worry, I'll kill all the wolves if it comes to that. Practice that sword skill Gale used earlier."
Gale assumed the same position she took from before. Her sword glowed blue.
"Right," she said.
Gale lunged forward and beyond a singular wolf. Unleashing the skill unto it, the wolf burst into pixels. Three of the six remaining wolves immediately surrounded Gale.
She turned around rapidly, placing the sword over her shoulder and behind her back. Her eyebrows raised when it did not glow.
"Sword skills have cool down times. You'll have to wait before you can use it again."
"Uh..." Gale simply stared at the wolves surrounding her.
One jumped at her. She sidestepped, but was still scratched by it.
"Time to switch! Hunter! Use your sword skill and relieve some pressure off of Gale!"
"Okay, okay. Um..."
He placed the sword over his shoulder and behind his back. It glowed blue. Hunter lunged forward with great speed. The wolf he passed promptly burst into pixels. A wide smile grew on his face.
"I did it!"
"Congrats! That's called a switch. When someone uses their skill, you switch with them to do two things. One, you use your skill. Two, they get to cool down their skill," Echo said out loud.
"I hope you were paying attention, Liza! 'Cause now it's your turn! Shout out, 'switch'!" Echo yelled out.
"I got this..." Liza said to herself, placing the sword behind her back.
She ran forward, "switch!"
Liza lunged toward the wolf in front of Gale and Hunter. Flying past it, the beast exploded into triangular lights. Now the four remaining wolves quickly formed up in a line.
"Yes! That was so awesome!" she exclaimed.
"Good! Now you're on your own! Finish 'em off, guys!" Echo commanded.
"Right!" Gale charged up her skill as she charged at the line of wolves. A wolf transformed into light after she lunged.
Hunter ran at the three remaining wolves, "Gale! Switch!"
His sword skill caused a wolf to burst. Gale took a few steps back. Liza followed up.
"Switch!"
Hunter took steps back as well. Liza's skill turn the penultimate wolf into pixels.
Gale readied herself for the final wolf. Not before it burst into light. Behind the glimmering pixels, Echo sheathed his sword.
He turned to them with a cheeky smile.
"What? I need experience too, ya know? Freakin' XP hogs."
The group shared smiles.
They ventured deeper into the forest, fighting more packs of wolves whilst going along. Hours passed by as they fought and gained experience.
Soon enough, the sun began to set, darkness settling in. Still no sign of the half-eared wolf.
Hunter called out as the group searched, "here, Wolfie! Ugh... We probably should've asked that NPC what the wolf's name was."
"Not that you'd remember," Liza said, sticking her tongue out at him.
"I truly believe you'd be the greatest comedian to ever live, Liza. I really do," he said sarcastically.
"And you'd be my biggest fan, right?" She quipped.
"I- Well-"
"Oooo, someone has a crush on a girl!" she stated out loud.
"Oh- C'mon, don't do that to me!"
"Okay, okay," she chuckled. "You're such a spaz."
"Yeah, I guess," Hunter rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Guys! Look!" Gale pointed ahead of them.
The group stopped. They laid their eyes upon a wolf missing half of its left ear.
"Well, we found it. How do we get it to come back with us?" Echo questioned.
"I think maybe we could get it to follow us?" Gale suggested.
"How do we do that? Liza asked.
"Make friends probably," Hunter said.
Liza placed her hands on her hips.
"What? I mean, I saw this video where you could get a dog to be friendly by making yourself small and sticking out your hand so it can smell you."
"You think this game will have that detail programmed into wolves?" Liza asked.
"You never know. Here, I'll give it a shot."
"Be careful," Gale said.
Hunter stepped toward the wolf. Reaching a close enough distance, the wolf turned to him. He stopped, then knelt down on the grass.
"Hey," Hunter reached his arm out. "I'm friendly. It's okay, boy. C'mon."
The wolf craned its head downward, taking single steps forward. Once it neared, the wolf raised its nose up to the hand.
Hunter smiled. "There you go, boy. Smell me up."
"Um... It's actually working," Liza commented with a raised eyebrow.
Continuing to familiarize itself with his scent, the wolf took another step closer to him. It placed its paws on his shoulders as it stood on its hind legs. The wolf sniffed his face. Hunter closed an eye as proceeded to pet the wolf's head.
"Who's a good boy, huh? Who's a good boy?"
Hunter rose to his feet. The wolf remained at his side. He returned to the group with the wolf following closely.
"Wow. Good job, Hunter," Echo praised.
"Thanks. They call me the dog whisperer."
"Who's they?" Liza asked.
"They."
She chuckled, "right."
"It's getting pretty dark now," Echo stated. "And we're too deep in the forest to make it back before nightfall."
"What do you suggest?" Gale asked.
"We make a fire and sleep next to it. The light'll keep any monsters away at night."
"We can make our own fires? And they keep mobs away? This game would be extra cool if our lives weren't in constant danger," Hunter commented.
"Thanks for the reminder," Gale said simply.
"Oh uh, my bad."
"C'mon, let's find a spot. Then I'll show you how to make a fire," Echo said.
The group searched around. Not too long after, they found a spot that let moonlight in from the opening in the trees above.
Echo showed them how to make a fire. He had them gather branches and bark from the trees. Liza opened her menu to build the fireplace.
Finally, Gale took the stone that Echo gave her. She pressed the button when prompted, making the stone and her sword glow. Striking the stone, sparks flew into the fireplace.
The space around the group illuminated with flickering orange light. They smiled at their creation of fire.
"Wow... That was simple and amazing," Gale said.
The group sat down together near the fire. The wolf curled up into ball next to Hunter.
"I guess you could say that was... simply amazing," Hunter commented.
"Oh shut up, you," Liza scolded as they all shared a small laugh.
Echo looked at them for a moment without saying anything. His expression grew sincere. Gale took notice.
"Something on your mind, Echo?" she asked.
"It's nice to see you all... smiling. Especially since we're... you know."
"We're... shocked... Just like everyone else," Gale said. "And we did some talking to help each other cope, ya know? I was telling Hunter and Liza that this game is the same as real life now. But it didn't have to be in a bad way."
"How do you mean?" Echo asked.
"I feel that a common thought for everyone to have is that today could possibly be their last day alive because of how unpredictable this game is."
Echo reflexively raised his eyebrows, barely noticing he even did so.
Gale continued, "thing is, real life is exactly like that. You can drive your car to work, to your friend's house, or you could drive home. At any moment, a drunk or reckless driver could crash into you. Just like that, you're life is over."
Echo listened without blinking.
"But, you know what? We don't go to sleep scared every night thinking, 'I'm gonna die in a car crash tomorrow'. We don't wake up in the morning thinking, 'today's my last day alive'. No. Humans don't do that. You know what we do? We wake up to our cats or dogs or whatever and take on the day. We laugh with our friends, we enjoy a tasty pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, we cry to sad movies. Then we go to sleep and wake up the next morning to live our life. And I'm not saying life is perfect all the time. It's not. But to live every single day thinking you won't be alive to see the sun set, well, I think that person is already dead."
Echo dawned a thousand yard stare, deep in his own thoughts.
"Are you dead, Echo?"
Gale's question prompted him to return his attention to her. He dawned a small smile.
"Far from it."
"Good." Gale smiled as well. "I think, to really beat this game, we can't let Kayaba take away our freedom to live the way we want. Sure, we're trapped in here. But we can still play the way we want. And we won't let him win."
Echo only looked at her, slightly nodding.
"I like your optimism," he said.
"We said the same thing," Hunter chimed in.
"Yeah, Gale is such a sweetheart. She's like the 'mom' of our group," Liza said.
"C'mon guys, enough with the buttering," Gale said as she stroked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear.
"And Liza's adopted, of course," Hunter commented.
"Oh haha, I'll give you that one," Liza said sarcastically.
"You all seem pretty close," Echo commented.
"We've been friends since high school," Gale added. "Now that we're university students, I thought playing SAO would be a good way to blow off some steam. And...-"
Gale stared into the fire as she trailed off.
"You had a great idea," Echo spoke. Gale turned her attention to him. "Don't blame yourself over this situation. It's not your fault. Nobody could've seen this coming."
"Yeah. We don't blame you one bit, Gale. Please don't worry," Hunter said.
"If anything, we're happy you wanted to share something great with us. We love you for that," Liza said with a warm smile.
Gale dawned a small smile, "thank you..."
The firewood crackled, sending a swarm of embers into the night sky.
"So uh, Echo," Hunter got his attention. "I noticed that the floating icon thing above your head is orange."
A wave of shock flowed through Echo's body. The shockwave almost went through his eyes. He stared at the fire to avoid eye contact.
"Isn't it supposed to be green? What does it mean when it's orange?" Hunter questioned.
Echo took an extra second before responding.
"Uh, well, it means... that... my status changed."
"I figured that much from the color difference. But what exactly does it mean though?" Hunter asked.
"Right. Well... It actually means quite a few things, but... I don't feel like talking about them right now."
"Okay, no problem. So, how did it turn orange then?"
"Hunter, I don't think he wants to talk about it," Gale stated.
"I'm just making conversation. You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Hunter said.
Echo looked into the fire for another second.
"The way it turned orange was... a glitch," Echo said.
"A glitch?" Liza asked out loud.
"Well, the system that defines green didn't work right, and it made me orange."
"Ohhh. Is it one of those day one launch bugs?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah, exactly."
"Wait, I'm lost," Liza added.
"When a game first comes out, it has a bunch of bugs," Hunter explained.
"Isn't that what the beta test was for? To fix those things?" Gale questioned.
"Most of them. But when a game is released, it's released to a wide audience, not just a small test group. Since there are more people, the chances of finding new bugs are higher," Echo said.
"Which is why newly released games usually have a patch a few days after the game releases," Hunter stated.
"My orange icon is one of those day one glitches."
"Oh, I see. You think SAO will get a patch?" Liza added.
"Not likely. Since, one, nobody can report bugs right now. And two, they're probably looking for a way to get us out of this game instead," Echo said.
"Makes sense," Gale said. "Having an orange icon isn't good, I'm guessing?"
"No. It's... actually very bad," Echo stared into the flickering firewood.
"I'm sorry that happened to you, Echo," Gale said.
"Also, I didn't mean to press you. Again," Hunter added.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting tired. I'm gonna get some rest," Echo stated.
"Sounds like a good idea," Gale said.
"What are you, my grandparents? It's only seven," he added, looking at the clock in his menu. "I'm staying up."
Echo proceeded to lie back on the grass near the fire. The light flickered gently upon his cheek.
"What are you gonna do? Go on your phone? Watch TV?" Liza asked.
Hunter threw a glare at her. "...Guess a little shuteye wouldn't hurt."
Echo took a deep breath in. He exhaled it.
"Goodnight, everyone," he said.
"Night," they replied.
He closed his eyes. The light from the fireplace continued fluttering calmly on his face.
Morning again. Sunlight shined its rays upon Aincrad and the group. They made their way back to the cozy cabin with the wolf following at Hunter's side. When they got close enough to the cabin, the little girl burst through the front door and waved at them.
"Hey! Wow! You found him!" She ran up to them. "I can't thank you enough for finding him!"
"No problem," Hunter said. "He'll be happy to be back home with you."
"Well, I don't know... He looks pretty happy with you. And he isn't technically my wolf. So why don't you take him with you?"
"Wait, is this for real?" Hunter questioned.
"You can tame beasts in this game. I guess this was a taming quest the whole time," Echo said.
"Yes! We'll take him and make sure he stays happy!" Liza exclaimed.
"Yay! Thanks for everything! Safe journeys to you!"
A prompt appeared in front of the group saying, "Quest Complete!"
The girl went back inside the cozy cabin. In each of their Heads-Up-Displays, a message read, "Level Up!"
"Hey! I'm level two now." Gale stated.
"Me too!" Liza said.
"Wow, this quest really gave us a whole ton of experience! All thanks to Echo," Hunter said with a grin.
"Well, no need to-"
Echo fell over to ground, the wolf thrashing its fangs into his face. He grunted and struggled to get a grasp on the wolf.
"Oh my god! Echo!" Liza yelled.
"What the fuck!" Hunter stated.
Hunter stepped over quickly, wrapping his arms around the wolf's torso.
"Get it off him!" Gale shouted.
He pulled the thrashing wolf off of Echo. Whilst being held in the air, it continued growling and showing its teeth. Echo breathed in and out rapidly, eyes wide. He propped himself up on his elbow.
Gale kneeled in front of him. She could see streaks of light across his face and even over his left eye.
"Are you okay, Echo?" she asked.
He placed a hand on his face to feel for wounds. He felt nothing. After a moment, Echo rose to his feet.
"I think it's time for me to go," Echo said through short breath.
"Hey man, we're sorry about what just happened. We didn't know it would do that," Hunter said.
"It attacked me because I'm red. I can't be around."
"What do you mean you're 'red'?" Gale asked.
"My icon's orange. But in the beta, we called it 'red' for certain players."
"And these certain players?" Liza asked.
"...They killed people."
Their expressions sunk at Echo's statement.
"You... killed someone?" Gale asked.
"It was in self defense. I- That glitch I was talking about, the system failed to recognize it even though that player lunged at us."
Echo placed a hand on his forehead.
"I didn't want to kill him, but he was gonna kill the people I was with, so I had no choice but to kill him in order to protect them, and the system screwed it all up by making me red, and now I can't stay with you because of my broken icon!"
He took a breath and exhaled.
"Echo, take a couple deep breaths, okay?" Gale requested.
He complied, slowing his breathing.
"I still want you to join us."
Echo shot a look of confusion over to Gale.
"Uh, Gale?" Liza spoke.
"Hear me out, guys," Gale turned and said to her friends. She turned back toward Echo.
"I think you're a genuine person, and you really care about us. I mean, you taught us skills, how to make a fire, how to level faster, and we even got a wolf from the quest you showed us. I believe you, Echo. When you say the system screwed up and made you red. I believe you."
She turned to her friends. "Don't you believe him?"
They took a moment, Hunter continuing to hold the wolf in his arms.
"I believe you, Echo," Hunter said.
"I don't know... Uh... I guess you did help us a whole bunch. I think that counts for a lot honestly..."
"It doesn't actually matter if you believe me or not. While joining you'd be nice, I'll only hold you back with my orange icon," Echo explained.
"You said having an orange icon was really bad. I didn't think I'd see it firsthand. What else does it mean?" Gale asked.
"Well, I can't go into any towns or cities, which means I can't buy potions to heal. I can't sleep on a regular bed because all the inns are in towns. I can't officially join a guild to stay alive or to even make friends. It's just... a death sentence..."
"Now I want you to join even more," Gale stated.
Echo shot her a look of confusion. "...But- I- ...Really?"
"I'm sure we can help you with some of those things," Hunter chimed in. "As for the wolf, I'll just keep him away from you with a leash or something."
"You have an orange icon. Yet you made us so much better in just this day alone," Liza added. "We'd love to have you."
"We don't want you to be alone and in constant danger. We'll figure everything out as we go along. Please, stay with us, Echo," Gale requested.
He stared at the group of friends in front of him. After a moment, he shook his head so slightly he did not even notice. His eyes welled up.
"You're...- You're serious...?" he questioned through his pained eyes.
"Yes, of course." Gale took a step closer to him. "I can see it in your eyes. You've been hurt. Please, let us take care of you."
She extended a hand toward him. Echo glanced at her welcoming palm. Then over to Hunter holding the wolf. Then back to Gale.
He lifted his hand from his side and slid his palm gently onto hers. They grasped one another. Echo clenched his teeth when a tear fell from his eye. He looked into Gale's eyes. They contained nothing but warmth and safety.
"Welcome to the Sword Swingers," she said with a bright smile.
Echo let out a small chuckle through the tears in his eyes.