book two: trapped || sword art online

Chapter 13

Published: 310517; Wednesday; 10:55pm; Unedited

"Kazuto..." She let out a breath, her voice quivering as she called his name out. Yui looked relieved to see her, as well, but at the same time seemed cross since she probably saw me as some sort of threat to Kirito and Asuna in some way.

And I would label myself as so, too; a threat.

Because after this, I am sure as hell not going to let him go without knowing how I feel. It's not right.

It's unfair.

He stepped forward hesitantly, before taking strides over to where she stood, still staring at him like she couldn't believe that he had made it. Without thinking, he embraced her tightly, resting his face on the crook of her neck, closing his eyes in relief.

He did it-- he made it to her in time.

"I'm here," he murmured, "I'm going to get you out."

"You're here," Ume agreed, "I knew if anyone could do it, it was you."

He pulled away, not even looking mildly embarrassed of his actions and that sort of bother Ume but decided not to bring it up. The situation was still dire.

"Yui, are you able to log Ume out?" The small AI shook her head, a frown on her features. At first Ume thought she just didn't want to help her because, well, she's Ume.

"There are complicated codes constraining her character data," she furrowed her eyebrows, as if looking at all the codes at that very moment was straining her, "we need a system console to log Ume-san out."

Ume bit her lip as she remembered to floating cube in that room, "I know where it is," she met his eyes, "it's where I got--" There was a weird sound, buzzing to life around them, getting louder, and Kirito whirled around, ready to attack.

The ground below them turned a virtual wormhole, and suddenly a force-- like gravity-- started pulling them down. Forcing them down. The area became nothing but black, a weird disk platform below them.

"What-- what's happening?!" Kirito gritted out, trying to fight against being forced to the ground.

Yui yelped, electricity surround her body, an odd purple tint to it, "Papa...Ume-san, be careful-- something...something bad is coming...!" she warned, wincing, and Ume reached out for her but she turned into red pixels; disappearing.

"Yui!" she shouted. "Kirito-- she's gone, she's--" the gravity became heavier and forced them completely down. It felt like they were being crushed, Ume felt like if this went on longer, she wouldn't be able to breathe.

"My, my," a voice drawled, there was a tone of amusement but it obviously sounded annoyed. Ume's breath hitched, eyes widening in fear. "Looks like a pest managed to sneak its way into my angel's cage."

Kirito, who still managed to remain on all fours, turned jerkily to glare at the new figure, "That voice...you're Sugo, aren't you?!" he growled. The man in question tutted, waving a finger at him.

"You should refrain from calling me that in this world. Address me as His Highness-- THE FAIRY KING OBERON!" Towards the end, his voice becoming loud and aggressive as he lashed out to kick Kirito in the head. With little control and strength he had, Kirito was knocked down. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Kazuto! Damn it..." Ume struggled, but as a character with already no strength or stats, she couldn't do anything. She gritted her teeth.

She was completely useless.