Lily and I worked this one over for a few hours, decided this was a good stopping point, hope you all enjoy it! Oh and yes, Keiko is an unrepentant and rather jubilant bitch and has no regrets.

Arriving on the 47th floor Lister worried her lip in contemplation, eventually she let out an exasperated sigh, then opened up a trade menu and after accepting it Silica could only blink in confusion.

"Bicycle shorts?"

"Yes," Lister stated tersely.

Silica could only stare at the item in question for a time before turning back to the older teen in confusion while stating, "Why?"

"Because they'll render under your skirt and you'll thank me later...trust me. This fucking floor...Seriously..."

Still beyond confused Silica equipped the shorts and quickly rushed forward to meet back up with the irate older girl and her faster pace.

"I'm not trying to be a bother, but why? I mean why help, why give me pants, why...just why?"

Lister stayed silent for a time as they walked along the roughly paved path before responding with, "Why help? Simply put your obstinate refusal to admit you are in over your head as you stride forward reminds me of my little sister."

Lister laughed and then shrugged lightly while breezing out, "Plus watching you flounder about is kinda funny, you entertain me, and really, that is all that counts."

There was silence, then eventually Silica muttered, "You're kind of cruel, you know that right?"

Lister shrugged not losing any of her swagger as she turned around and walked backwards while meeting Silica's gaze evenly, easily missing all of the pedestrians heading towards them as she replied.

"I am. As for the shorts, you know how many hentai fueled fantasies involving underage girls and tentacles there are floating around out there? Short answer? A. Lot. God only knows how many people are watching you right now, hence why you are wearing bicycle shorts underneath that cute skirt. Stupid shit is bound to happen, especially on this floor..."

Silica froze up a moment then blew up with, "WAIT THEY'RE WATCHING US!?"

Lister could only laugh for a few moments before turning back towards the path ahead of them while muttering, "Oh hell, kids these days... Seriously this entire game is more or less digital Hunger Games and Game of Thrones demented love child. Do you seriously think there isn't anyone perving in on us at any given moment?"

Silica stared forward in silent shock for a few minutes, and when she eventually found her voice she meekly said, "How can you be so, so, so..."

"Indifferent?" Lister asked blithely while scoffing lightly, "I had my moment of fridge horror the first week into this shit show. There isn't anything I can do about it now, aside from swearing bloody vengeance on anyone perving on me, so I just do my best to mitigate the damages so to speak. "

Silica was silent for a time then eventually snarled out, "Panty shots... That's what you're getting at, protecting me from having panty shots taken whenever we run into whatever it is you're worried about."

"Yup," Lister replied while popping the 'p'.

"Men are pigs," Silica seethed out in anger, Lister just laughed at that.

"People are pigs kiddo, it's one of the many reasons I wish I could avoid them altogether, alas we never quite get what we want."

They were silent for a time then eventually Lister spoke up again, "Kid, how old were you when you got stuck in this game?"

Silence, then eventually Silica spoke up, "I just turned twelve..."

Lister pursed her lips, then let out a sigh, "Christ, please tell me you had hit puberty before you were stuck in this game?"

Silica blushed brightly while turning her head to the side to hid her face, "I don't see what that has to do with anything."

Lister stopped walking and actually looked down at her with concern, "Holy. Shit. You're undergoing every bit of horror involved with puberty without any sense of context and since your avatar is static you don't even know the changes your body is undergoing... That...wow... That is fucking terrifying."

Silica was about to retort that she could handle herself, but then her ankle was grabbed by a tentacle and she was dragged away screaming by a massive plant monster that had several dozen other tentacles heading towards her as she desperately grabbed her dagger. Slashing at the tentacle dragging her Silica scooted back quickly in wild eyed panic when Lister rushed in and dismembered the monster in a few short strokes. Sheathing her blade as the monster exploded into a cloud of pixels, she offered Silica a hand and pulled her up while shuddering slightly.

"Fucking tentacle monsters, seriously, this goddamn game... Good show regardless kid, keep getting the first hit in and I'll finish them off. You get all the XP and loot, and my guilty conscience is lightened ever so slightly. Come on, lets keep moving..." She then walked past the still shell shocked Silica, all while muttering, "Fucking tentacles, seriously this entire game was programmed by pervs..."

Still panicking Silica rushed after Lister while sheathing her dagger and straightening out her skirt, after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence she eventually glanced up towards the older girl who met her gaze evenly.

"What?"

Silica blushed, then turned her head while muttering, "Thank you for the shorts Miss Lister... They were...helpful..."

Silence, then a scoffed laugh, a moment later a hand rested in her hair ruffling it lightly, "You're welcome Dovahkiin. You're safe with me, no matter what."

Oddly enough, Silica believed her. Still...

"What does that even mean? The Dovahkiin thing?"

Lister snorted, then stared down at her, "It's from the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim specifically, and it means 'Dragon Born', that you have the soul of a dragon." As Lister continued walking on Silica couldn't help her eyes widening and her lips turning up into a smile.

The most badass girl she had met in this game said she had the soul of a dragon?!

It took all of her self restraint not to break out giggling, and then Silica frowned. Lister really was a badass who didn't need any help from anyone else, and Silica very clearly remembered her rant on perverts. So why was she dressed so provocatively?

"Almost to the flower kiddo, just a few dozen more trash mobs and we'll be clear, fucking milk run but still tedious as shit. Anyway, ready to resurrect your hamster?"

All other thoughts were pushed aside as Silica let out a tired sigh, "Dragon... Miss Lister."

Lister snorted in amusement before replying with "Yeah I know, but you're kind of adorable when you get annoyed."

A few beats of silence then, "I hate you, seriously."

Lister broke out laughing after that, ruffled Silica's hair yet again, and grinned as she replied with, "Of course you do."

Silica couldn't help it, she grinned as she shook her head ruefully, "Are you always like this?"

Lister smirked and nodded as she replied, "Drives my wife up the wall how our best friend and I can just derail any conversation and make it either about self interested gain and or perversion. She's a good sport about it though, as she put it her life would be boring if I wasn't around to introduce elements of chaos and all that."

They remained silent for a time, then eventually Silica asked, "So...wife? You're ummm..."

"Gay?" Lister asked while raising a brow, a moment later she shrugged as she continued speaking, "More along the lines of being incredibly demisexual and having a very beautiful, intelligent, and persistent woman interested in me to the point that I more or less became Asunasexual out of necessity." She paused, blushed a moment then muttered out, "I don't really mind it though, she gives good cuddles, and I don't hate the kissing either..."

Silica openly smiled at Lister when she turned to meet her gaze, "That's...that's just precious! How long have you two been together?"

Caught completely off guard Lister blinked owlishly as she replied, "Umm...we've been partners since about a month after we were trapped in the game, we didn't, you know, become partners until about two months ago."

Silica grinned and hopped on the tips of her toes clapping her hands lightly as she asked, "Oh you were partners before you were partners. How romantic! How did you two meet?"

Lister was beginning to look incredibly uncomfortable when she glanced at the horizon and pointed at a pedestal in the distance.

"Oh hey look! Something completely unrelated to this conversation, I think it may even be the Pneuma Flower which means we can resurrect your dragon."

"You mean my hamster?" Silica asked innocently, hiding her eyes brimming with triumph at her companion's sudden unease. At last, a weakness!

"Right, the pineapple thing..." Lister mumbled while marching forward quickly, now cutting down mobs as they appeared while she did her best to hide her blush from the younger, now thoroughly amused girl.

"Pina" Silica corrected in a playful tone, Lister just responded with a grunt as another tentacle monster tried to run away from her in fear to just die tired as her sword went through the back of its head.

Silica took this reaction to be a victory for her, and she would be rather pleased to find out at a later time that her companion was more than anything, impressed with her teasing.

As it stood, with Lister no longer holding back the local mobs made themselves scarce and Silica soon cupped the Pneuma Flower in her hands, tears glistening in her eyes as she suppressed a sob. She could bring her friend back, she could make up for her horrible mistakes, she could...she could...

She was shaking uncontrollably, and now she was sobbing, and suddenly Lister had pulled her into a tight hug, and whispered, "Let it out Dovahkiin...keeping it in, pretending it isn't there... Silica it doesn't work... Just...let it out..."

Silica began wailing then, pulling Lister closer she let out all of her anguish, the turmoil, the frustration, the utter rage she had felt since being trapped in this game, and so she cried. She cried as Lister ran a hand through her hair, and eventually she stopped crying, she sniffled, wiped her eyes, then turned to look up at the older teen before her. Lister was not glaring, staring, or being apathetic, instead she was smiling down at her sadly as she jerked her fist over her shoulder, thumb aimed back at the city that had brought them here.

"Well Dovahkiin, ready to resurrect your hamster?"

Silica sniffled one last time, then smiled in reply, "Dragon."

"Whatever," Lister said with a mirrored smile as she threw an arm around Silica's shoulders, both girls breaking out into giggles a moment later as they walked along the path back to the city.

They talked about random things, mostly about their school lives, and Silica dealing with Lister teasing her about boys liking her while at the same time Lister dealt with the fact that Silica could tease her about being married at fifteen. Eventually the pair arrived at a bridge and a rather voluptuous redhead stepped into their path.

"My my my look who I find here out in the wild? Tell me, did you happen to retrieve the Pneuma Flower to revive your little pet Silica?"

Both girls came to a halt as they stared Rosalia down, Lister tilted her head to the side, then smiled, "Why yes, yes we did recover the flower."

Silica swallowed tightly as she saw Rosalia's smile turn down right predatory, "Is that so, well, how fortuitous. For you see the toll to cross this bridge happens to be one Pnuema Flower, funny how that works out."

Lister pushed Silica behind her but did not draw her sword, smirking she walked to the middle of the bridge and spread her hands out wide while blithely stating, "Well funny thing is there happens to be two of us, and we only have the one flower, so whatever are we supposed to do?"

Rosalia stared at her a few moments as her brow furrowed in annoyance, "As disadvantageous as that is I will gladly accept the single flower as a toll for both of you."

Silica shuffled back, clearly terrified as Lister laughed loudly before replying, "Oh, Rosy, you and what army?"

Silica let out a squeak as seven figures appeared out of the woods, all of them armed, all of them with orange icons hovering about their heads.

Player attackers.

"This army, actually."

Lister tilted her head to the side, then snorted, "Bitch that's barely a fire team, seriously? I'm insulted more than anything else."

Rosalia wasn't having any of that, and quickly snarled out, "Show that brat her place, NOW!"

Before Silica could move the seven men charged her protector and attacked her as one.

She was terrified beyond words, she only had her knife to defend herself, but she moved to try and protect Lister when the woman in question let out an annoyed sigh that had the now panting men take a step back.

Cracking her neck to the side Lister let out a laugh, then met Rosalia's gaze evenly as she grinned widely.

"You know," Lister began in a bored tone, "my sister and I? We more or less raised ourselves since our parents were full time workers."

"What?" Rosalia spat out in honest confusion.

Lister continued on as if she hadn't spoken, "In turn, they tried to make up for that by having us all move in with my grandfather. He...was not a good person, but one thing that really defined him was he didn't raise either of us as granddaughters. No, we were disciples. He had us learn several dozen rules, and three of those have been put into practice today."

"Oh...shit..." Suguha and Midori stated in unison as their eyes widened visibly.

Lister grinned widely as she raised her hand and extended a finger, "Rule 1, If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, you did something wrong." She extended a second finger, "Rule 2, If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying hard enough," she extended a third finger, "and last but not least Rule 3, have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

Grin turning to Cheshire cat levels Lister pressed a button on her menu that activated a macro, that macro let her hair out of its ponytail to leave it freely blowing in the wind. It removed her overly revealing blouse and skirt, replacing them with a black turtleneck sweater and cargo pants. This was soon followed by a heavy black duster with silver trim appearing on her shoulders, and knee high combat boots replacing her flats. A moment later she had fingerless gloves on her hands and cat eyes glasses perched on her nose, then she pulled both swords off her shoulders and her grin turned to a self satisfied smirk.

Then her title and name was displayed for all the world to see.

The Black Queen

Kirito

Level 81

Stepping towards Rosalia and her now terrified minions, Kirito couldn't help chuckling out, "You done goofed."