Sword Heroes(Sword Art Online: Instagram Edition)

Chapter 12

I wake up, eyes watering. I notice I'm not in my room. I look down to see Scar on the floor. Her jacket acts as a blanket. "Hey. Good morning." I look at the door to see Xeo standing there, hair completely messy, clothes a mess. His arms are bandaged up. He's holding a cup of coffee. "What time is it..." I ask, looking out to see the darkness of night. "2AM." He walks around Scar, sitting next to me. "You okay after everything...?" Xeo asks, eyeing my stomach. "Oh... Yeah..." I sigh. He looks down at his coffee in silence. "Mary is alive." He says. I look at him, confused. "What...? No... I watched her-" I begin. "Just check your friend list." He says. I do as he says, only to see Mary still online. "She was on the move an hour ago. She must have stopped for the night." Xeo says as I close my menu. "...so why did she do that?" I ask. Xeo sits there staring at his coffee. "... Let's go after her." I say. "What?!" He looks at me. Scar shuffles in her sleep causing us to stare at her. "What the fuck are you thinking?" Xeo growls. "Let's go get her. We need to figure out why." I say. "When?" He asks. "Now." I stand up. I almost fall over but Xeo grabs my waist. "Idiot... Just lay down. You injured your leg." He points out. I notice the black and blue on my leg. I sigh, sitting back down. I lay down as Xeo gets up. "Where ya going?" I yawn, my vision suddenly becoming blurry. "My room." He says as my vision becomes dark.

"Good Night."

~~~

I wake up from a nightmare. I hold my stomach as I sit up. I notice Scar is gone. "Huh...?" I begin. I hear voices outside the door. I stand up, almost falling down. A stabbing pain shoots through my right side. I lean against the wall to keep myself up. I open the door and the voices become unmuffled. "What do you mean Athena, Xeo, and Rous left?!" I hear Swift yelling. "They just left!" Mango yells back, obviously displeased.

"Why did they leave?!" Cheesy asks. "I don't know am I them?!" Ender yells. "Stop yelling at her!" Simple yells. "Stop yelling at each other! Anna yells. I step out in the hall, cringing in pain. I walk into the living room, confused and worried. "I think I know where they went." I shock the group. "Lily lay back down you're only making your leg worse!" Scar scolds me. "Where did they go." Ender asks. "They went to find Mary." Swift's expression softens. "You know..." She says. I nod slightly as Scar walks over to me. "I told Xeo we should go together. To find her and he said no to me. But... I guess he decided to take those two and go." I explain as I change my gaze from them to the floor. "So this was your idea...?" Ender growls. "Ender relax! She didn't know this would happen!" Scar says, standing in front of me protectively. Ender just glares before looking at the group. "So do we go after them?" Anna asks. "We can't Lily-" Scar begins. "Yes we go after them let's go." I say. "Huh? Lily your leg-" Swift begins. "She not too heavy. I'll carry her on my back." Simple says. "... Alright let's get ready I guess." Cheesy says, walking to her room. I switch into my gear, sitting on the couch as I hold my leg. Scar sits with me, moving her hair from her face. "You sure about this?" Scar asks. I nod, massaging my leg. "...I want you to stay here." Scar says. "What?" I reply, looking up at her. "Stay here." Scar says again. "No way Scar I'm going with you guys-" "Just listen to us for once!" Scar yells. "As the medic of this group, I want you to stay here!" She yells at me. I cringe as tears roll down her cheeks. "Scar I..." I begin. "Just lay down and rest! Is that to much to ask?! Your leg is only getting worse and I need time to figure out how to help it!" Scar is basically broken. "...She won't be walking." Simple comes in. "I'm going to carry her. She'll be alright." He smiles. Scar just stares as Simple picks me up. "Ready to go?" Swift walks in the room. We all nod as Scar stands up, changing into her gear.

We get to the location they're near. "This is near the... The final floor." Swift gasps. "So you mean..." Simple begins. "They're trying to beat the game...?" Mango gasps. "But..." I begin. "Are we strong enough?" Ender asks. We stare at the entrance to the final level before the boss. "Let's go." I say. "What?!" Scar asks. "Let's. Go. I've hear rumors this floor takes days... Maybe weeks. So let's go." I point toward the entrance. Simple follows my command, the group scurrying to catch up.

"How long until her leg is better?" I hear Anna ask Scar. "A day or two. It depends if she decides to walk or not." Scar explains. "Well let's make sure she doesn't have to." Swift turns to them. A smile forms on her face as she says "We're so close to beating this game." We all feel a little better, but yet... Sad.

We begin setting up camp for the night. I sit on the ground, starting a fire as the others spread tents and sleeping bags. I manage to start a fire, slightly scotching away from it. "Nice Lily!" Mango messes with my hair. I smile slightly as the group gathers around. "What are we gonna do in the real world...?" Swift asks. "Well... It seems like... You know... We'll be apart." Simple sighs. "Well... Me and Cheesy know each other." Swift says. "But the rest of us... We're not gonna be together any more." Mango sighs. I stare at my legs, not wanting to talk about it. I'm torn about what I want to do. Either stay here with my friends or go back to Mamoru and my family. I shake my head before looking up at the group. "I guess we should get some sleep huh?" Ender finally breaks the silence. We all nod, exchanging our goodnights and going into our tents. We have to share tents, so I share with Scar. She observes my leg, putting some type of lotion on it. It tightens the muscle, causing pain to fill my leg. "It will untighten in a few minutes... Get some sleep and hopefully your leg will be better in the morning." She lays down in her sleeping bag, turning away from me. I do the same but I stare at the top of the tent. We're so close to beating the game it's unbelievable.i softly sigh before closing my eyes, falling fast asleep.

~~~

I wake up to the sound of swords coming from their holders. I sit up, noticing Scar not laying next to me. I look at my leg to see the black and blue beginning to vanish. "Who the hell are you?!" Ender yells. I poke my head out of the tent to see that girl again. She was on the tv! "Raptor...?" I tilt my head. "How the hell do you know me?!" She points her sword at me. "I've seen you during the tournament!" I say, holding my arms up in defense. "Oh... You're that Lily girl..." She sighs, putting her sword away. "They're..." She stares at the group. "We're the Elemental Heroes." Swift says proudly. "Right. Wild talks about you guys sometimes... Speaking of Wild where did she go..?" Raptor looks around. "Right here!" Wild appears from behind a tree. "...Come on and chat with us. We need to find out some things." Cheesy says.

We all gather around the fire pit. "Why are you two out here alone?" Mango asks. "We came to beat the game." Wild says, playing with her gloves. "Alone? You'd both be dead!" Simple says, a slight tone of amusement in his voice. "... You don't know until you try. Know our question. Why are YOU out hear?" Raptor asks. "We're going after out friends. We assume they ran off to beat the game, sorta like you are doing right now." Ender says. "Well... Can we come with you?" Wild asks. We look at each other, passing looks of approval. "Alright! But this means you need to be apart of the elemental heroes!" Swift smiles. "Alright deal." Raptor stands. Everyone stabs up as I stay seated. "Come on Lily let's put the medicine on your leg." Scat says, bending down next to me, taking off my boot and rolling up my pant leg. I pout as she rubs cream on it. "You'll be alright in a day." She smiles. I put my boot back on, trying to stand. It doesn't hurt as much as it did yesterday. Anna keeps me balanced by wrapping her arm around my shoulder. "Come on you can walk." Anna smiles. I take a step, testing to see if I can really walk. "She's good to go." Anna smiles to the group. We begin ahead toward the others as we slowly begin to get closer and closer to the final boss.