book one: unrequited || sword art online

Chapter 4

Published: 10/21/2015; Wednesday; 9:20am; Unedited

I panted heavily, using my sword to keep me up. Next to me was Kirito kneeling as he caught his breath as well. It was done, we beat the boss.

But Diabel died.

I grit my teeth, I could have done something to save him...and yet...!

Everyone cheered behind us, everyone congratulating Kirito and I. We looked over at them curiously, seeing as they were cheering for us. Asuna and Agil congratulated us(Asuna had her cloaked ripped off by Ilfang, and really, she was just standing next to Agil and avoiding looking at me), causing even more of an uproar.

"Why?!" I shout stopped the cheering, silencing everyone. "Why...why did you let Diabel die?!"

"Let him die...?" Kirito repeated, disbelief in his voice. I glared at him, he had no idea what really happened between Kirito and Diabel.

"Of course!" Kibaou shouted angrily, "You knew the technique the boss would use! If you had given us the information, he would still be alive!" Everyone whispered, then a guy suddenly pointed at my raven haired party member.

"He must be an ex-Beta Tester!"

"That's how he knew all the boss's attack patterns! He knew but he hid it from us!"
Kibaou sniffed, glaring. "There must be more ex-Beta testers, come out!" Everyone looked around, even Asuna and Agil, looking for someone to come out.

"I'm not."

"Aren't you one?"

These people can't even trust their own party members!

Kirito began laughing evilly, surprising even me.

"Don't lump together with those noobs, by now, even you guys are better than them," oi, oi, don't lumpt my together with these guys... "Out of all the Beta Testers, I was the one that made it to the highest floor during the test. I know the attack patterns because I fought bosses with them on the higher floors."

"That just makes you a cheater!"

"A Beta Tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!"

"Beater!"

"Beater, huh?" Kirito smirked, "I like the sound of that. "From now on I'm a Beater," he equipped a black cloak that was as dark as the night sky. He walked silently to the door, but I couldn't take it.

"Hey,"I called, removing the hood from my head, "I might as well go with you."

"The party was just for this one time," he said coldly, but I shook my head.

"I am a Beater as well." His eyes widened, every looked shocked, "I would rather not be lumped with people that hate me." I walked over quickly, and gestured for him to keep going as well. He nodded and started for the large doors that lead to the next floor.

"Wait!" He turned back to see Asuna running up, she stopped just a bit away from us. "You said my name."

"Oh, that," Kirito turned his whole body to look at her, but I stayed still. "Sorry if I messed up the pronunciation."

"It's not that, you got it right, but how did you know it?" I deadpanned, seriously Asuna?

"If you look right here where your health bar is," he pointed to a spot next to him, "you'll see two other names bellow yours."

Asuna squinted slightly and then blinked, "Kiri...to...Kirito?"

"Yeah, and Moo."

"Its pronounced Mue, Kirito-san," I drawled, sending him a look.

"Sorry, sorry," he chuckled sheepishly. He looked back to Asuna as he told her that if she's invited to a guild, to accept. I tuned everything out and went back to walking up to the door that leads to the next floor. Standing in front of it, I pulled out the party menu and left it. I look back up and breathed in.

Ninety-nine more floors to go.

~*~*~*~*~

I frowned, snow falling piling up on my already white hair, something felt wrong. I felt like I should go find Kirito, but I didn't know why. It was just one of those gut feelings that I could never ignore. So I pulled up my friend list, which only consisted of Kirito and pressed trace.

I followed the glowing footsteps in my vision and followed it to an inn. I went in and to the lady at the desk, she greated me and asked if I needed a room.

"No, I'm here to meet a friend, he's staying here. Kirito, what room?" I said, not missing a beat.

"I see, floor three, room five," the NPC told me. I nodded and headed for the stairs, clbing up quickly and hurried.

I made it to the third floor and looked for room five, I stood in front it and froze when I heard choked back sobs. I brought a hand up slowly and hesitantly knocked, turning off the tracer. The crying stopped and a shaky 'who's there' called out to me.

"Kirito, open the door, or I'll do it myself," I replied. There was a moment of silence before the door opened and I was met with the usually stoic boy's eyes being red-rimmed. I grabbed his arm and walked in, shutting the door behind us and immediately wrapped my arms around his neck. He tensed up at first, before relaxing and cried a bit quieter now, his arms snaking around my waist and squeezed.

"It's my fault," he whispered, "I could have saved them, I should have told the truth about my level..."

I hushed him gently, stroking the back of his head, "You can blame yourself all you want, but it is not your fault, Kirito."

And for a while, we just stood there in each other's embrace; me comforting him and him telling me what had happened.

I glanced at my health bar, my name and level right below it.

Mue
Level: 47

I closed my eyes and simply listened to him, his voice sounded hoarse, he would sniffle every now and then but he had calmed down. I let go of him, he did the same, and I stepped back and looked up at him.

"...better?" I asked. He nodded a bit before looking at me with confusion.

"Why are you here anyways?" He asked, staring at me expectantly.

"...I had a feeling, a gut feeling, that was telling me to find you," I explained, "that something was wrong." He stared for a few moments before nodding, I smiled a bit and headed for the door. "I'll be going now, see you in the front lines. Merry Christmas Kirito."