Opening her eyes, Ember noticed a wooden roof right above her. Confused and shocked as to why she was seeing this instead of the night sky, the young girl pushed herself up.

"Oh, you're up?" A familiar voice spoke up. Looking over to her right, Ember noticed Xena smiling at her as the Sun began to rise behind her, giving the ginger-haired girl an ethereal glow.

"What happened?" Ember asked, and Xena answered. "So, that's what happened." Realizing there was something missing from her story, Ember was going to speak up, but then a knock was heard coming from the other side.

"Coming." Xena called out as she made her way to the door. "Ah, Sean you're here." Looking around, Xena's smile faded. "Where's Shirou?"

"He hasn't woken up yet." Sean replied as he brushed his hand through his hair. "I'm not sure what's happening with him, but I hope it's nothing serious."

"I hope so too." And with those words, Xena passed by Sean, and spoke back to Ember. "I'm going to check on Shirou, see ya later." With a wave of her hand, Xena vanished from sight.

Ensuring that she was long gone, Sean began to look around before entering Ember's room and locking the door as he entered.

"What are you doing?" Ember asked, her voice still weak from just waking up.

.

Several Minutes Later…

.

After placing on her armor, Ember continued to sit on her bed as she looked at the words in her diary.

"I want you to erase what you saw yesterday." Sean spoke up after locking the door.

"Why? Shouldn't we tell everyone what we saw. Besides what if that was a dev? It means they haven't given up on us." Ember spoke in a panic after hearing what Sean had said.

"It's exactly why we can't tell anyone." Shocked by his words, Ember froze. "Listen, if what you said is true, then people will begin to think that there will be no reason to work together, and they'll think that this world we are in, retuned to a normal game where death will come to no one. It'll be utter chaos if that comes to pass." Understanding his worries a bit more than previously, Sean noticed the gears in Ember's head beginning to turn. "It's not like I want to keep it a secret, it's just…we can't exactly trust that what we saw was actually a dev."

"I…see…" Ember's words slowly escaped her lips as she fell into a daze trying to see if Sean's words held any merit. But no matter how much she thought, she couldn't see any fault in his logic.

"I'll let you decide what to do with your journal. After all it's only my opinion." Sean spoke up after seeing Ember's head droop down. "But I do hope you make a decision quickly, because people will ask you what had happened before they arrived, after you leave this room."

Exiting the room, Ember heard Sean's footsteps slowly fade away into the deafening silence that surrounded her. Looking down at her screen, the words she had written after she had awoken boldly shined back at her. With her gaze glued to her screen, Ember knew all it took was one tap and the words she had typed out would save itself and it could never be undone. Sighing to herself, Ember closed her eye and waited.

.

Later…

.

Each of her steps felt heavy as she descended down the set of stairs into the main lobby of the inn. Upon her arrival, Ember noticed Sean, Kibaou, Xena and Shirou speaking amongst themselves as Kibaou tried to pry any and all info from Shirou as to what led to his sudden collapse. But upon noticing Ember's arrival, Kibaou bolted to the auburn haired girl and began to question her quickly, so no one had the chance to speak with her privately.

"You were there, what happened?!" Kibaou asked, his face inching closer and closer with each word.

"I…" Calming herself down, Ember pushed Kibaou back so that she had at least some room to breathe. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I'm not taking that BS from you too!" Kibaou barked back which startled Ember. "Something happened, and no one is telling me a damn thing!"

"And that's because we don't know what happened!" Ember yelled back, which silenced everyone within the room in seconds. "All we know is that we were ambushed by a red player who had a group of orange-player's behind him, but for some reason they decided to leave us alone, which is when you guys came and found us."

Clicking his tongue, Kibaou walked away with heavy steps as he began to talk under his breath. Watching the spiky-haired man leave the inn, both Sean and Shirou grabbed each of Ember's arms before dragging her away from the group of player talking amongst themselves.

A bit ways away from the group, Sean and Shirou let go of Ember's arms as they tried their best to hold back their laughter. Confused by their attitude, Ember couldn't help but speak up.

"What's wrong?" Ember asked.

"Oh, nothing." Sean answered as he wiped away a tear. "It's just that you said the exact same thing as both Shirou and I said when Kibaou asked what had happened."

Seeing what was so funny, Ember began to giggle to as she too tried to hold back her laughter.

.

"It's in moment like these that I can truly feel alive and forget that I'm in a place where death can come to me without warning. At least I have these two who will watch my back, and I'll be sure to watch theirs."

.

Looking up towards the roof of the bath house that was in the town of Floor 5, Ember couldn't help but feel a bit awkward, reason being…

Being splashed with water, Ember sat up and began to wipe the water off her face as she coughed out the water that ran up her nose.

"That burns..." Ember grunted as she tried to blow her nose.

"Sorry bout that." Argo clapped her hands together, before she sat down by Ember's side to watch all the other girls talk amongst themselves. "You look like you have a lot on your mind, wanna talk about it?"

"No it's fine." Ember spoke up as she sighed.

"Alright." Argo nodded. "But if you do need to talk, big sis is here…for a fee." She said as she winked. Giggling at her words, Ember couldn't hold back and laughed, which caused everyone else to laugh with her.

.

Outside on a random hill…

.

Looking at the clock that sat just outside of his vision, Shirou noticed the time inching closer and closer to midnight. Sighing as he laid sprawled on the ground, this moment of peace was hard to come by, with everything going on around him. But despite the peace he felt around him, his mind was muddled by thought of memories that didn't feel like his.

"You alright, there?" Kirito asked as he noticed a grim look on Shirou's face.

"Yeah. Head's been hurting, is all." Shirou answered monotonously. "Why do you ask?" Shirou looked over to the teen beside him, who was also sprawled on the ground.

"Nothing." Kirito replied as he looked up to the sky. "Floor 5, can you believe that?"

"Nope." Shirou answered back. "And to think we were stuck on Floor 1 just close to a month ago."

"Yeah." Then silence engulfed the two men as they had nothing else to talk about. At least until Kirito opened his mouth again. "What do you think the girls are doing?"

"Taking a bath." Shirou replied honestly, which then made both their imaginations run wild as to what the women might be doing. "That was a hard mental battle."

"I wish I never asked." Kirito rolled over to his side to face away from Shirou as his face began to heat up with embarrassment.

"Never asked what?" A familiar voice spoke up as it approached.

Not even bothered to sit up, Shirou looked up more to see behind him to see Asuna, Xena, Argo, and Ember, who was behind the group, approach the two men.

"Nothing." Shirou answered as he stood to his feet before kicking Kirito on his back which caused the teen to snap out of his embarrassed trance.

"What was that fo-" Seeing the group of women behind him, Kirito scrambled to his feet and calmed himself down. "Hey there."

"What happened?" Ember asked as she suddenly appeared behind Shirou.

"Nothing, we were just talking before you guys came." Shirou replied as he turned around to fully see Ember. "Still…" Choking on his words, Shirou shook his head and stopped himself from saying anything else. "Never mind." Confused by his attitude, Ember tilted her head in confusion.

.

In the Ruins of the 5th Floor…

.

Taking the last mummy monster in the ruin, both Shirou and Ember continued onward, going deeper and deeper into the ruins.

.

"Shirou and I decided to party up, due to the fact that at the end of our clearing the 3rd Floor, Shimizu began to hold these so called 'mental health' meeting, which left her unavailable for the majority of the day. It was just something she decided on a whim, but it gained so much traction that she was overwhelmed and had to retreat away from the front lines just to keep up with the amount of people asking for these meetings."

.

Looking up from her journal as both Ember and Shirou began to rest in a safe zone inside a dungeon below the 5th Floor town. The dark gloomy area surrounding Ember made her feel a bit weak, but with a trusted ally by her side, Ember felt like nothing could go wrong.

"At least that's what I thought…" Ember said as she opened her eyes to see the ceiling above her begin to restore itself. "Ow."

I…should be saying that." Shirou spoke through his gasps as he continued holding Ember by her stomach.

"Huh?" Ember looked behind her to see that Shirou used himself as a pillow for her fall. "I'm sorry!"

.

A few minutes later…

.

Exhaling after drinking a healing potion, Ember and Shirou looked around to see the area around them. Still unsure where they were, Ember tried her best to look into the darkness of the hallways in every direction, while Shirou opened his menu to see themselves still within the area of the map he had just made.

"My guess is this might be a field boss room." Shirou answered.

"What makes you say that?" Ember asked.

"Well, for one, we are probably off the map by this point and our only way out is up." Shirou explained as best as he could. "Let's just start by moving in a direction with less light."

Slowly turning her head to face him, if expression could say what a person was thinking, it would be what Ember's face would look like.

"Why?" Was all Ember could say at the moment.

"Horror movies." Shirou answered confidently.

After looking for a while and defeating mobs that were a few levels above them with ease, thanks to their teamwork, both Shirou and Ember made a great distance from where they first started. Opening his eyes after having rested for a bit, Shirou looked over to Ember who was busy looking at her menu.

"What are you looking at?" Shirou asked as he rose from his position.

"Just writing what we had done up until now." Ember answered as she closed her menu. "Nothing to worry about."

"I've been meaning to ask…why do write anything at all? You won't be able to pull it out of your NerveGear any time soon." Shirou asked, wondering what was going through the head of the woman before him.

"At first I just did it so that I could leave something behind to be remembered by, but now I just do it so that I could remain as me." Ember answered as she looked towards Shirou, who never broke his gaze away from her.

"I see." Was all Shirou could answer.

Making more and more progress as they went forward, the duo team couldn't find any exit in sight, let alone a field boss.

"We cleared this area of monsters, so it'll take a while for them to respawn, let's take some rest." Shirou offered as he began to look around.

"Yeah." Ember responded as she took a deep breath.

Looking around herself as she took a bite out of a piece of bread she had in her inventory, Ember began to wonder if she and Shirou would ever get out.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way out, it hasn't been that long since we fell in here." Shirou answered as he noticed Ember's expression.

"Was I that obvious?" Ember asked, a bit embarrassed that her expression was readable.

"After spending a good amount of time together, it's become a bit easier to know what you are thinking." Shirou answered, but then lifted his hand and began to put his index finger and thumb together, leaving a bit a distance between them while looking in between the gap while closing one eye. "Just a bit, though."

Giggling as she heard his response, Ember couldn't help but appreciate his slight carefree, confident nature. But her attitude changed as she began to hear something coming from the distance. Reacting quickly, Ember grabbed her sword, and Shirou did the same as he grabbed his blade, while dropping his unfinished bread only to hear it shatter on the ground.

As the sound of feet pattering on the ground became increasingly louder, Shirou was the first to react as his sword descend on a sly shrewman, cutting it in half, and at the same time, his sword. As the two players stood there, dazed, Shirou's item drop menu opened up to show what he had received.

"Uh…Sorry for your loss." Ember didn't know what to say, but in a daze, joked for the first time about the situation that unfolded before her.

.

Breathing heavily, trembling vigorously, as the sound of their own heartbeat beating hard against their chest, both Ember and Shirou fell to the ground.

"What…what was that monster?" Ember asked through her breaths as looked up to try and get as much air as she could.

"I heard from some stories that some man wanted to make a monster that could defeat other monster easily but could be controlled." Shirou answered as he sat up. "I think that was one of them."

"So a golem?" Ember asked as she too sat up.

"Yeah." Shirou replied. "But for now…let's rest." Shirou said as he plopped himself on the ground once more.

"What about the monster?" Ember asked only to receive a groan as a response.

Practically dragging his own feet as he was just a few steps behind Ember, Shirou began to look through his menu to try and find any mats for his temporary weapon.

"Hey, Shirou…" Then the two heard a scream echoing in their direction. "Where…"

Not waiting to see if another scream came, Shirou was, once again, the first to move. Ember, not even bothered by his action, followed Shirou without hesitation.

"Look!" Shirou pointed as he noticed a player with deep blue hair holding back a zombie with her shield.

This time, Ember, being the quicker one, struck the zombie that was clawing and scratching the shield the player held up with all their might. Not even bothering to fight it, Shirou slid between the gap of the zombie and the player, grabbed the player's free hand, and began to run off, with Ember not far behind.

Panting heavily, Shirou, still holding the dark blue haired girl's hand looked back to see Ember trying to catch her breath as well.

"You alright?" Shirou spoke up after a few moments of silence, to which he noticed Ember nod in response. "You?" Shirou then directed his attention to the new girl.

"I'm fine…thank you." The young girl answered. "Um…could you let go of my hand?" Looking down, Shirou noticed his hand still holding onto the girl's. Letting go slowly, the girl then slipped her hand out and looked up in embarrassment. "Thank you for rescuing me. I'm Sachi. I'm part of a guild called the Moonlit Black Cats."

"Moonlit Black Cats…is that a big guild?" Shirou asked Ember to which she shook her head.

"We're a small guild of about 5 people." The girl answered. "We're a private guild if that helps. But…we do want to join the front lines eventually." Saying this, the blue-haired girl held her head down in shame. "But if I wasn't so weak, we'd probably be in the front lines by now."

"What's your name?" Shirou asked. "I'm Shirou, and this is Ember."

"I'm Sachi." Sachi answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What weapon do you use?" Shirou asked as he began to go through his menu.

"I was using a sword before, but my team was asking me to use a spear." Then realizing that something was missing, Sachi began to look around to notice that her weapon was missing. "My spear, it's gone!"

"You probably dropped it when you were running." Shirou answered as a message appeared in front of Sachi's screen. "Go ahead and take it, I don't use spears anymore, so you could use this for now until we find yours."

"Okay. Thanks." When Sachi thanked Shirou for the temporary weapon, his words finally clicked in. "Anymore?"

"I used to be a spear user back in the beta test." Shirou answered. "So, come on. I'll teach you the basics." Shirou answered with a grin.

.

An Hour Later…

.

Blocking an attack from a mummy, Shirou held it in its place while Ember brought its health down. Seeing it in a good place, Shirou turned his attention towards Sachi.

"Your turn!" Shirou exclaimed.

"Right." Sachi replied.

"Listen, the game has a mechanic that makes it easy for a player to use a skill, however the player has to move their body in order to get the best result." Shirou scratched his head. "What I'm trying to say is go with the motion until it feel dangerous to do so."

Screaming to release the fear in her heart, Sachi moved forward and pierced the mummy before backing up and bringing her spear down on the monster, getting the killing blow. Then seeing her level increase from Lv. 9 to Lv. 10.

"I did it." Sachi answered underneath her breath.

"Congrats." Shirou congratulated Sachi as he patter her head.

"Congrats." Ember answered as well.

"Thanks you two." Looking forward, Sachi's eyes lit up. "Look that's where I entered from!" Sachi pointed to where the large staircase was. "We can get out of here now."

As all three player rushed out of the underground ruins, and as soon as they reached the top step, Shirou stretched out in relief.

"Freedom!" Shirou yelled to the top of his lungs.

"Calm down." Ember whispered in Shirou's ear. "We've only been in the dungeon for a few hours." Surprised by her actions, and her soothing voice, Shirou slapped his own ear. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine." Shirou stuttered as he answered.

Making their way back to town, both Shirou and Ember saw Sachi off as she went back to the lower floors to meet up with her guild. Returning to the center of town, the two noticed something different about the air of the city.

"Is it just me, or is everyone on edge?" Shirou asked.

"No, I'm seeing it too." Ember answered. "Hmm? Isn't that…?"

As Shirou looked forward, he noticed Riordan walking towards him, like he was on a mission. Scared after seeing the angry look on his face, Shirou was fearing for his life. Then as the tall dusty blonde haired man grabbed Shirou by his shoulder's, the young man himself began to shiver from his legs.

"I need your help!" Riordan yelled out so loudly that Shirou's ears began to ring.