I don't own Sword Art Online or Mataras the Red Swordsman. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman is owned by Mataras the Author. The Wyvern's Inferno guild is owned by TheSib. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 13: The Girl of Morning Dew
Akira stretched his arms as he woke up, and got out of the bed, he felt so much better this morning, and glad to get back in action, he was wearing a modern Chinese style night shirt and pants for pajamas, Silica peacefully yawned from the bed. "Morning Akira. Are you feeling better?" she asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"Yeah. I'm feeling much better now." grinned Akira, as he gave her a thumbs up.
The two were soon joined by Megumi, and the trio changed into their casual clothes. Megumi was wearing a short sleeved crimson red shirt, and her red combat skirt, along with red socks, and red shoes. Akira was wearing his Azure blue vest, bandaged shirt, pants, and bandaged leg socks and black shoes. Silica was wearing a sky blue sleeveless top shirt, and black skirt. The trio then had some breakfast, which was a full english breakfast that Silica had attempted to make, except for baked beans, but it was really good.
After cleaning themselves up, all three sat on the sofa in the sitting room. Megumi was reading the Weekly Swordsman, Silica was drinking a cup of tea, and Akira was playing a lute, upping up his skill in playing a musical instrument.
Just then, a knock came from the door, and Akira went to get it. When he opened the door, it revealed some familiar faces, Mataras, his familiar, Litrosh, Sachi, Diabel, Agil, and Lisbeth, their guild mates.
"Hey guys, come on in." welcomed Akira.
The group had a good time during their reunion, and got pictures of Asuna, and Kirito during their honeymoon, and by the look of it, the two were having a good time. Matures then mention that they needed some help with something and asked for them to come.
"Let's go and see them." suggested Akira, "I'm pretty sure we can give them their wedding presents when we see them."
"Yeah, that sounds great! What do you think, Pina?" Silica asked her feathered dragon which chipped in approval.
"Well then, in that case. We better get moving." suggested Mataras. Everyone nodded, and headed out to Floor 22.
"So what did they find exactly?" asked Sachi as the guild walked through the forest of Floor 22. It was still early in the morning, and the sun was up for only half an hour now. All of them were wearing their signature outfits, minus the armor and weapons they normally carried, but stored in their inventory, and ready to be equipped at the instant of attack. Litrosh and Pina were napping on their masters heads.
"I don't know, what do you think Mataras?" Disable asked.
Matures only shook his head, "All the message said was that they found a person who may need our help." he replied with a frown. "And here I am hoping that it is not someone with a job, I was getting used to having some vacation."
"If it is a job, then shouldn't Kirito and Asuna had it done it themselves?" asked Agil.
"No, I don't think so, they're on their honeymoon, and wouldn't want to be bothered by something like this right now." stated Diabel.
"That's fair." nodded Lisbeth, "Still,… I wonder what is so important that they asked all of us to come down here all of a sudden."
"Only one way to find out." suggested Akira. Matures was hoping that it didn't have to do with violence for several more days.
But it turned out to be something,or in this case, someone, entirely different, which made it worse for Mataras, but not for the other guild members, as they saw a young innocent girl, she had the most adorable face, pale skin, grey eyes, and long flowing black hair. Her outfit was a simple white dress. "Yui, these are your Aunts, Silica, Lisbeth, Sachi, and Megumi, and your Uncles, Mataras, Akira, Diabel, and Agil." said Asuna with a charming smile.
"Wait, wha…?" sputtered Mataras, as the little girl looked up at him a little shy. "Uncle,…? Wait, what?" Matures then took a step back involuntary while the others smiled brightly and went to say hello to the little girl.
Everyone greeted her with open arms, and got to know her better, but none were more happier than Sachi. "Hi, Yui!" she said with a smile as she hugged her, "You're such a cute little girl! Now where did these two ever find such an adorable one like you?" You returned the hug awkwardly and looked at Asuna with a stare that said, "Help Me! I don't know how to deal with this!" Matures was thinking the exact same thing.
Kirito was grinning as Akira and Mataras walked over to him and whispered, "Hey Kirito? What's going on here? Why is Asuna having this little girl call us her Aunt's and Uncles'? You do realize that Mataras said himself that he doesn't do well with kids." said Akira, as Mataras nodded in agreement rapidly.
"Calm down you guys." said Kirito in defense. "She's the one we told you about. She lost her memory, and we might need help to find out who her parents might be. I mean, she's too young to have logged in by herself, which is what Asuna, and I figure."
"What about the part about her calling me uncle…?" slowly demanded Mataras.
"Well… the thing is when we found her, she had already passed out." answered Kirito, "We noticed pretty quickly that she didn't have a cursor at all on her,- might be a system glitch. And when she woke up a little while ago, she lost her memory, plus she couldn't pronounce our names. So now she calls me her 'Daddy', and Asuna her 'Mommy'. The trio looked over at Asuna, who was happily beaming at the little girl as she warmed u[p to the guild, who were all delighted to meet Yui, especially Sachi. She looked happier than anyone had ever seen.
Matures had only thought come to mind as he saw how attached Asuna was already to Yui. "Well, this is going to end on a sour note." He muttered, and got scolded by Akira, and smacked on the back of the head by Kirito as a result.
Later, when everyone sat down to have lunch, Akira noticed Yui staring at Mataras while having a spicy sandwich, making his friend nervous. Akira knew he didn't do well with young children, and after learning from him about his family who were deceased, that he would leave it to his younger sister, a girl named, Victoria. But Yui continued to stare at him with unusually intelligent eyes.
Asuna was talking to Lisbeth when she noticed what was going on. "Yui, sweetie, it's rude to stare at people. You're making your Uncle Mataras very nervous, and uncomfortable."
You turned to Asuna and cocked her head to one side, "But he seems really sad about something. I was wondering what it was so I could help make it go away." Matures was only wide eyed at Yui, while the others smiled and laughed.
Later on, Yui was playing 'tag' with Silica, Pina, and Litrosh while Sachi was watching over them, while The Moonlit Black Cats were able to discuss about the child. "So…" sighed Asuna.
"So?" stated Kirito, "What are we going to do? She's a blank state with no memories at all."
The others felt sorry for the little girl, it would drive a person to go insane if something like that happened to them.
"It's almost like she's a baby again," said Asuna as she tried not to cry. "I just… I'm sorry, you guys… I just don't know what to do." The others looked approvingly at Kirito as he clasped Asuna's hand.
"I know how you feel." said Kirito, "It's weird, but seeing how we met her and all, but it feels like our cabin really has become a home." He smiled briefly, "But it's a catch twenty two, we need to get back on the assault team, and clear the game for everyone, including Yui."
"That explains why you called us down her." understood Agil. "Your vacation is done in three weeks, and if she stays any longer, it'll be difficult for you two to join back up. The front lines will be hurting without you two."
Kirito sadly nodded, and said, "I was thinking we head to the Town of Beginnings, and start our search for Yui's parents there."
Diabel agreed, "Good idea, but we better go in armed."
"Aye." nodded Mataras, "The Army runs the area down there. At first I thought it was going to be something stupid, but now I actually want to fight someone, I was getting bored of all this vacation. It made me feel lazy."
"And The Red Swordsman is back!" chuckled Akira.
"Oh yes, before we forget. Our guild have some wedding presents for the two of you." said Mataras as he accessed his menu handing the the two couple of bundles, and a small box.
Asuna unfolded her bundle of clothes to have a new white coat with black trimmings and a silver chest armor the coat reached her feet, and was basically a trench coat.
Kirito's was the exact same, but was the opposite with it being black, with white trimmings. Instead of chest armor, it was a silver buckle to hold his two swords in place and shape of an X. His coat was basically an updated version of his Black Wyrm coat, merged with a coat from The Knights of the Blood Oath. and in the box was a ring to increase Kirito's speed by 20 to keep up with Asuna.
The two were wondering where they got all these items, and the guild explain they borrowed the coat, and purchased a coat from the KOB, and sent them to tailor to merge and change to have Kirito's color theme to match each other, and the ring was from a monster drop, and hasn't been seen since Gridlock was sent to prison. The two thanked their friends for the gifts.
As soon as the Cats stepped down from the Teleport Gate on Floor 1, memories flowed into their minds, remembering Kayaba's announcement, and what happened afterwards.
Kirito remembered becoming a Solo Player.
Asuna remembered crying herself to sleep in a inn.
Agil remembered crying out in an uproar.
Liz remembered crying in fear.
Silica remembered her scream starting the outcry.
Sachi remembered being comforted by her computer club.
Diabel remembered also being the outcry.
Megumi remembered crying on the streets in fear.
Mataras remembered his promise to take down Kayaba with his sword.
Akira remembered sighing sadly, and slowly walking out out of the town, and also remembering his promise to his mother that he would survive.
Then it hit Mataras like a train, they all heard him before, but when and where was the question. Kirito was still holding Yui on his back, giving the the little girl a piggyback as they searched for clues.
Before any of them could do anything, a person cried out, "Leave those children alone!" The guild instantly ran towards the sound and found an alleyway where the voice came from.
When the the group arrived, they saw a young woman in front of a bunch of men from the ALF, or the Army for short, threatening them with a need to pay taxes. The entire group turned to see the Cats right behind them wondering what was going on.
When one member of The Army came to explain what was going on, The Cats backed off as Mataras sprang in and started fighting The Army, basically taking them down like bowling pins. This was going to be a while.
"Well, Yui, it looks like we're going to be here for a while." grinned Asuna, "Your uncle sure is a tough cookie isn't he?… Uh… Yui?" Asuna seemed confused when Yui reached to the sky with hand.
"Everybody's hearts are…" whispered Yui, "Everyone's hearts…" Her eyes widened and then instant shut tight as she clasped her hands to her head, curling up into a ball, concerning the Cats. "I was never here… in this place…" Yui squeaked, "I was all alone… in the dark…" She gasped in pain before screaming out to the heavens as static came out in a high pitched scream.
Everyone covered their ears, including Asuna, and Kirito. The same went for the children standing near Lisbeth, and Diabel, for the cry was quite loud.
Mataras was out of range when Yui started screaming and noticed her beginning to fall off Kirito's back onto the ground.
"Asuna!" cried out Liz, "Yui's about to fall off!" this outburst helped Asuna regain herself and moved in to catch her, and cradle Yui in her arms. The others than rushed over to join her, all fixed with concern.
"What's happening to her?" asked Akira as the little looked to Asuna, with eyes blearing out.
"Mommy,…" Yui said in crying voice, "I'm scared." And then, she passed out.
"My God…" Kirito said in shock, "Yui…"
As the others tried to rouse the little girl up, Akira turned to Mataras as the two were thinking the exact same thing. Yui, just who are you?
Silica: That was crazy.
Akira: Yeah, but at least the children are okay from the Army.
Asuna: I just hope Yui is going to be okay.
Kirito: Yeah, me too.
Mataras: Aye, I have a question to ask her when she wakes up.
Akira: We'll find out soon, I hope.
Author: Next time on The Azure Swordsman: The Lost Fragment. Chapter 14: Yui, and The Knight of Azure Flames.
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