Floor 20 - Chapter 1 - The Rule of Mobs

Arriving on the Twentieth Floor of Aincrad, the group were all happy about one thing in particular... the weather was so much better. A sunny day, backed up by an almost cloudless blue sky, and greenery as far as the eye could see. In other words, much better than the Nineteenth Floor, and it's miserable grey sky, the hallucinogenic mists and the mind defying monsters.

''Blimey, you actually listened to someone when they told you to rest... '' Strea joked as she walked up to the group, whilst Klein caught up from behind. He really hoped she didn't notice the looks that he and Koharu were exchanging, else there'd be more questions asked than either of them were comfortable.

''Actually, I had quite a good time...'' He replied, smirking towards Koharu as he did, before realising who else was present. ''For a day off, I mean!'' He added hastily. The look on Strea's face told him that she had some pertinent questions for them both, but had decided to keep them to herself for now.

''Sure...'' Fortunately, the rather indignant arrival of her guild leader kept her from digging any deeper for now.

''Could warn me next time you plan to run off like that, Strea!'' The slightly indignant looking samurai stopped to catch his breath, almost leaning on Strea as he did. The look she was giving him was one that Jet couldn't really work out, but it certainly wasn't the usual ''you're making a tit of yourself.'' look she often had on her face. ''Glad to see you guys made it, I figured ya wouldn't just up and kick the bucket, but I'm glad you're all still in one piece.''

''More worried for your safety with her around. She's not causing too much grief, right?'' He asked, earning a slight chuckle from the samurai.

''Nah, pretty much everyone's gotten used to her around by now. Swear jar's full though.'' Klein admitted.

''Who's she, the cat's mother?!'' Strea asked, scandalised at the knight and samurai discussing her as if she weren't present... ''Well, my brother's still being an ass then, I see? And after we bailed you out too?''

''I mean, you are territorial, and constantly catty. so...'' He smiled as innocently as he could, before Strea drew him into an attack hug as she called it... a gesture that now hurt a hell of a lot more, given her recent addition of a steel chest plate... ''Oww...'' He mumbled.

''Teaches you to mock your beloved big sister.'' The purple-ette grinned, as Jet staggered back, dazed from the impact.

''Yes Beth, the time is five-twenty five, and up next, we have The Killers with Run For Cover...'' He spoke into the microphone that had mysteriously appeared in front of his face, as he leant on a tree to recover.

''Strea, could you try not to concuss your brother...'' Klein sighed from over by the girls, as the woman in question shrugged. ''Anyway, away from the siblings for a bit, you all doing okay? After everything, I mean,''

''Last floor was a little rough, but we're coping.'' Phillia admitted, in the knowledge that Klein was at least somewhat aware of what they'd found and the inevitable nightmares that would stem from that floor. Klein gave them a sympathetic look in response.

''Anyway, where's the rest of Fuurinkazen?'' Rain asked, noticing their absence.

''They'll catch up in a few...'' Strea answered, returning from making sure her brother hadn't toppled over.

''Luckily, I told them where I was going, so they don't think we ditched them. We've already started grinding on this floor, but we're making sure to be as cautious as possible. Don't need any nasty surprises coming our way...''

''I almost mistook you for someone else there, Klein... you actually sounded like an adult for a minute there.'' A deeper voice came from across the field - that of the resident axe wielder, adult and shopkeeper, Agil.

''You're here too, Agil!''

''Almost like a big reunion, really...''

''We only got here a little before you. Still though, let's show everyone what our groups are made of!''

''As we always do.'' Jet gave a confident smile. After the last floor, even he wasn't sure how much of it was confidence, and how much was bluster, but it seemed to help with his nerves a little, so even if it was ninety percent bluster, it served a purpose.

''Still though, the monsters on this floor may be nowhere near our biggest problem for once.'' Agil said grimly. Looking over at the mantis like monsters that littered the landscape around them, and their blades for arms, he had to wonder what he was referring to.

''Oh?'' Koharu asked, worry slightly evident in her voice.

''Klein knows a bit more about it than I do, so I'll let him explain.''

''You guys know about what happened yesterday, right?'' The group looked to each other with confused expressions, as if to ask each other if they knew what he was on about. The consensus was a resounding no, and so it fell to Jet to voice that confusion.

''Err, no, not really.''

''The big guilds pretty much monopolised the good grinding grounds on this floor.'' Strea seemed more frustrated than usual at that, so he had no doubts that she'd said something about that...

''That wasn't the only thing though, there's a dungeon in the middle of the forest. The guilds are basically blocking anyone from going in, until they've decided who gets to clear it first.''

''And let me guess, they can't agree?'' Rain asked. The way she phrased it though, made clear that she already knew the answer before it came.

Klein didn't answer her directly, but the nodding of his head was a conclusive enough answer, before he checked his messages. ''Oh crap.''

That certainly wasn't reassuring, Jet thought, and based on the looks from everyone else, he wasn't the only one thinking it either. ''Something the matter?''

Strea, stood beside him, looked equally rattled, which was never a good sign. He'd often joked that, other than her temper, she was unflappable. Obviously that wasn't the case, but it took a lot to alarm her. Whatever it was, was certainly not nothing... ''Not yet, but if you were expecting peace and quiet... well, I wouldn't hold your breath.''

/-/

Having fought their way through the landscape of Bladed Mantises, the group had rendezvoused with the rest of Fuurinkazen, and headed into the forest. Dense foliage all around made each metre of the journey an exercise in patience, and the situation they were about to find themselves walking straight into wasn't any less nerve wracking.

The three guilds had met at the dungeon entrance to discuss a clearing strategy, the dungeon - at least from a lore perspective - being the gateway to the labyrinth, defended by a ferocious golem that had once been used by the people of the Thirty-Third Floor as a training dummy, before being locked away down on the Twentieth Floor...

Needless to say, none of the guilds could agree who had the rights to take the first crack at it, and at least as they could understand, that meeting had ended on a relatively sour note. Fast forward to this morning, and neither Lind nor Shivata had shown up, nor could they be reached by messages...

All of which explained the mob now gathered outside the dungeon. Mobs were never a good thing, he thought to himself. After all, it was said that the average intellect of a mob was the intelligence of its stupidest member, divided by the number of people in the mob... Which was never going to be a particularly large number, given there were about 50 people present.

Still though, what exactly had they formed a mob over? Klein had explained the situation to them, but only so far as that Lind and Shivata were missing. That wasn't really cause to- Oh.

A lightning bolt of realisation struck him - the DKB members blamed the ALS for the disappearance of their higher ups. The ALS members blamed the knight and his glory seeking.

That wasn't a mob, no. That was two mobs, both riled up and ready to knock the stuffing out of each other...

From one side, he could see the armoured form of Liten trying her hardest to de-escalate things, to reach a somewhat less violent conclusion, but she didn't seem to be having much in the way of luck. Even Kibaou, the stubborn and obstinate numpty he sometimes was, seemed to be trying to calm things down too, though with an equal amount of luck.

"Should we..." Koharu asked, completely uncertain of what to do. She wasn't the only one; they'd been told that it was a squabble over egos, not a missing persons case, which threw any plans they'd come up with completely out of the window.

"I'm not sure you'll be able to defuse things here." With Kibaou in charge of the de-escalation efforts - a phrase that sent shivers down the spine of anyone with a sense of self preservation, Jet thought - Liten had came over to them. It didn't take a degree in social sciences to know that Liten wasn't comfortable with public speaking, and yet she'd been thrust into the unenviable situation of not only defusing the situation, but protesting her guild's innocence in the disappearance of the DKB's leaders. The poor girl looked absolutely exhausted, no doubt worried for not only their own safety within the angered mobs, but Shivata's too, wherever he and Lind may be...

Before any of them could respond, the mobs found a new scapegoat... "I actually believe Kibaou!" One woman yelled out. "Lind was talking to someone before they went missing - silver hair, long ponytails, red and black clothes!"

The crowd turned to face the only person that matched that description - Sanya. Jet had often thought of her as stoic, other than on very rare occasions where her temper flared up, but this was unusual. If there was ever a time for someone to lose their temper, he'd have assumed that being accused of causing the disappearance of two guild leaders and the possible collapse of the front lines, would be that time!

Instead, Sanya held back, shaking as she spoke quietly. "I-I swear..."

"What were ya doin' wit' em?" Kibaou asked in an unusually calm voice for the... rather animated man.

"Yes, I think we'd all quite like to know that, Sanya..." The same woman that had accused her earlier called out. Jet looked over at the woman - red hair that was tied up partially, with some kind of black dress and a spear holstered on her back.

Rain on the other hand, immediately jumped to her friend's defence, pushing her way through the crowd, and standing in front of Sanya, almost as if she was defending her in the more physical sense. "Do you people have no shame! Or are you so desperate for a scapegoat that you will pin the blame on anyone, simply for daring to so much as talk to the missing?!" She shouted at them, clearly enraged by the accusations.

"N-no, Rain, they're right to suspect me. It was my fault, after all." Sanya admitted quietly. That news struck Rain like a freight train at full pelt. Within seconds, the redhead had gone through almost the entire spectrum of negative emotions, her expression settling somewhere between livid and disappointed.

"Wh-what?" She stammered, still processing the revelation.

"I was cornered by four players with red cursors. They threatened to..." Sanya stopped, the words evidently not wanting to leave her throat. "...do awful things, hurt the children. If I didn't do as they told me to. So I did."

"Alexandra..." Rain muttered under her breath, shaking her head as she did so. Her voice was drowned out by the enraged shouting coming from the now unified mob - unified by their hatred of the "Silver Witch".

An uncharacteristically quiet voice came from Kibaou, the only such voice in amongst the cacophony of screams of ''bitch'', ''murderer'' and ''traitor''. "Are they dead?" He asked quietly.

"No!" Liten almost managed to yell over the crowd briefly, before regaining a degree of composure. "I mean, no! They're still alive, I know it! Before, Shiva gave me this." She held a small flashing, seed like object in her hands. "It flashes if the other person is holding the other seed."

"Then we really don't have time to waste, do we?"

"What about her?" A member of the DKB interrupted. "What do we with her?" A pause ran through the crowd as they considered their options.

"Make an example of her. Tell any of the people still working for these red players what'll happen to them when they're caught." The red headed woman suggested, and the crowd erupted into cries of outrage and agreement. It didn't take a genius to work out what was being suggested, and even Kibaou seemed horrified at the mere suggestion, let alone the fact that people were agreeing with the woman...

"We ain't executin' no one! I dunno what the fuck is wrong wit' ya, but that ent how we do things here!" He yelled, the tone of disgust in his voice even overwhelming the anger in it.

"Agreed. We are not barbarians, nor do we subscribe to capital punishment here. Sanya is guilty, she makes no argument against that fact... but to suggest she should be put to death? That makes us no better than these red players." Diavel, late to the party as ever, opined, and the crowd began to settle slightly whilst the red haired woman scuttled away from them. Jet thought about tailing her, but made a note of her appearance to warn Argo about. Maybe he was being paranoid, but rather safe than sorry...

In his inattentiveness, he'd failed to notice Koharu trying to get his attention. "-et! Jet!"

"Huh?"

"If Lind and Shivata are in danger, then we need to do something right now, not wait till the guilds have settled this..." Phillia said, her tone indicative of how slow that method would be. She was right, and Jet thought about it momentarily.

Maybe he was as mad as he'd joked, but he realised something - Sanya knew where they were, and she needed a chance to redeem herself...

"I've got a plan." Jet answered, before looking to each member of his party. "You trust me, right?"

"Always." Koharu put her hand out in front.

"I do, yes." Rain did the same, her hand on top of Koharu's.

"I'm really not liking where this is going, Jet..." Phillia, having seen enough of Jet's plans, had a growing sense of unrest at the idea of a plan, but agreed anyway, placing her hand on top of Rain's.

"We're gonna need Sanya with us." He admitted.

Rain looked at him with complete shock. "You cannot be serious!"

Phillia seemed less shocked, and more vindicated. "I was right, I don't like where this has gone."

Even Koharu looked hesitant at the idea. "I love you, but... this is a really bad idea."

"I know, but she's the only person who knows where Lind and Shivata are." He was more than willing to admit this was a bad idea; even the voices that he reckoned made up his sense of self preservation, quiet as it was, were screaming that this would end badly. ''I don't like this either, but we are going to need her.''

Still, if people's lives were at risk, then he'd rather take a bad option, than none at all. ''LISTEN!'' He yelled, getting the crowd's attention quite quickly, much to his own surprise. ''Look, no offence, but we need to do this quickly. If Lind and Shivata are still alive, then we don't know how long for, and as much as you would like to throw Sanya into the deepest and darkest hole you can find, she is the person who knows where they are.''

Diavel seemed to be the first person to understand the implication of that statement, and even as shifty as he'd been in the past, the knight gave a look of reservation towards him, before speaking up himself. ''Perhaps, but even you have to admit, she isn't trustworthy!''

''Diavel's right, much as it pains me ta say it. She got Lind and Shivata inta that mess, who's ta say she ain't gonna try it again!''

''I know that, but if you want them back in one piece, it may be the only option we have...''

''We could make her answer.'' Another player commented, and the implication there was obvious. Torture her, force her to reveal everything she knew... Whatever method they used, it was nothing short of barbaric, he thought, and there was no guarantee it would even produce a result anyway.

''We ain't torturin' anyone!'' Kibaou shouted to the crowd, shutting down that line of enquiry immediately, before sighing. ''Yer a stubborn bastard, ya know that?'' He muttered under his breath. ''The choice is yer own tho', knight 'a the wind, but we ain't helping when she double crosses ya...''

''I think Kibaou's summarised my thoughts adequately.'' Diavel explained, and Liten stepped forward.

''I'm going with them. It means I can keep an eye on her too...'' He couldn't blame her for being suspicious, not really. Sanya, by her own confession, had somehow manipulated the pair into going somewhere dangerous, and now they were following the breadcrumbs. If he was being realistic, he honestly did think she was remorseful for what she'd done, but that wasn't his main concern...

Sanya had very much picked a side, by revealing her treachery to the group. Yes, the side she'd picked now despised her, an understandable reaction given the circumstances, but she'd betrayed a group of out and out murderers, with little by the way of morals to stop them...

As they walked back through the forest, he just hoped he was right; that his faith in her being remorseful wasn't misplaced, because the fight they were likely getting themselves into wasn't going to be an easy one, that much he knew, and they'd need every possible hand on deck... including their treacherous ''friend''.

{Author's Comments}

I have survived exam season... and coursework season. Normal service will now resume...