I found myself underneath the great World Tree in the capitol city of Alne, searching for some helpful items for my future travels across the vast seas. I found a spyglass, a compass and a magical pocket watch that would ring at the sign of any danger. I was on my way to retrieve my last item when a particular figure caught my eye. I saw a girl with long flowing white hair dressed in a particular black outfit that had no back to it. I saw a hint of green fabric wrapped around to hold the top and bottom together but other than that, it was mostly skin. Her clicking boots were connected directly to her black leggings that bared particular white designs on the outsides as she walked away. I had a flashback to Sword Art Online and a sharp headache struck my brain as I recalled many evil voices laughing loudly all around me. One of which was a girl who stared down at me with the same white hair as the player scurrying away before me. I shook the pain away and clenched my teeth together as I began my pursuit. At first, I was following mere glimpses of her thru the bustling streets of Yggdrasil city but eventually, she noticed that she was being tailed. The girl started taking particular turns to avoid me, even going into an alleyway alone to prove her suspicions correct. When I stepped around the corner and saw her, she slowly backed up and tripped on her butt in a panic.
"You." I drew my crystal blade and stepped menacingly closer to her.
She turned away and started to run, slamming herself into the far wall to slow down as she peeked back to see me following. I brought my blade up and slashed downward, breaking a wooden barrel into planks as the girl evaded around the next corner to flee.
"Nowhere to run now." I growled and continued to chase slowly behind her.
The girl suddenly met a tall wall at the end of the alleyway and turned around with an angry look as she sprouted green fairy wings from her back. As it turns out, this girl was a Sylph.
"You remember me, don't you?" I smirked and opened my black feathered wings as I approached.
Her expression changed as she stepped back and her fairy wings suddenly faded when she realized who I was. She looked scared, afraid. Something I was not expecting to receive from such a player of my past.
"Ahh, so you do remember me." I grinned and swiped another barrel, scaring the girl as it shattered immediately into bits.
I stepped forward and slashed across the air, causing her to fall back as my blade stuck into the now cracked wall next to her. The girl sat on the ground and looked up at me as I freed my sword, holding up her hands to stop me in fear.
"I'm going to enjoy this." I brought my sword up above my head.
"Please... don't..." She begged and closed her golden yellow eyes, accepting her demise as I tried to enact my long sought revenge.
To my surprise however, a familiar face stood angrily in front of her to stop me from following thru.
"Stop, K." It was Asuna.
"Asuna? What are you doing?! Move!! This girl is apart of Laughing Coffin!" I revealed as I reeled back again to strike.
"I know, K. Everyone does." Asuna spoke seriously and I froze.
"W-what??" I was dumbfounded as I slowly lowered my sword.
"This is Lux. She was manipulated by Laughing Coffin to join their cause as a lure. She had no intention of hurting others and was simply pressured into doing what they wanted. She's a good person, K. Just like us." Asuna assured me.
"You say that like I wasn't lured." I scowled over at Lux who shamefully looked away.
"She didn't have a choice, K. Believe me, Lux is on our side." Asuna placed a palm softly on my crystal sword, pushing it down slightly to tell me everything was okay.
I looked over to Lux who peeked shyly back at me and I clenched my teeth for a moment before shaking my head.
"Fine. But she is still untrustworthy." I told Asuna as I sheathed my sword.
"We can work on that in due time. For now, let's get you home, hm? Sinon must be worried sick about you." She put a gentle hand on my closed fist as she walked past me.
I looked back over my shoulder at her for a moment before returning my vision back to Lux. She picked herself up off the ground and folded her hands innocently in front of her. She still looked down, not making eye-contact as she remembered what she had done. I simply exhaled and followed behind Asuna as the three of us returned to the town square to take flight. The journey there was deathly silent until we finally landed within the Spriggan kingdom. I quickly took the lead and began to walk towards the steps to my royal quarters when we suddenly heard a few voices call.
"Asuna!" Leafa waved and almost tripped as she ran.
"We're glad you're back!" Silica smiled as her and Liz followed alongside Leafa.
They eventually caught up and took a moment to breathe before happily looking up to Asuna.
"I unfortunately can't stay for long, but I'll be sure to let you know whenever I get back." She smiled in response.
"Aww, but you just got here." Leafa whined.
"Don't worry. Lux will keep you company while I'm gone." Asuna gestured next to her but there was no one.
"Lux?!" The three of them all were surprised.
Out from behind Asuna came Lux who saw the girls and gasped aloud.
"There you are!" Liz smiled.
"We missed you so much!" Leafa opened her arms as Asuna stepped out of the way.
"Welcome back, Lux!" Silica hugged her as did the others.
"I've missed you too. It's good to see you all again." She hugged back and I audibly scoffed as I climbed the stairs to my quarters alone.
"What's his problem?" Liz noticed.
"It seems they have an extensive past." Asuna informed.
"We'll talk to him. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it if we ask." Leafa nodded in determination.
"One can only hope so." She replied and looked worriedly to the doors as I shut them.
Sylph, Green, Skilled: Leafa
As we happily chatted with Lux up the stairs, we opened the doors to see K lounging comfortably upon his throne. His gaze met us for a moment but when he saw Lux, he shook his head and looked away.
"You bring an intruder into my home." K spoke seriously.
"An intruder? But K, she's-"
"I know who she is and I know what she's done. It doesn't change anything about what happened back then." K stopped me before I could explain.
"But you said yourself that the past doesn't haunt you anymore." Liz remembered.
"Trauma is vastly different." K looked away again.
"But surely there's someway you could forgi-"
"I have spoken." K growled as his glowing purple gaze met mine.
I simply sighed and looked down at the ground before turning back to open the doors.
"Yes, King K. Come on, girls. You heard what he said." I ordered.
"What?! But we're supposed to talk to-"
"There's no point in arguing. Let's just go." I insisted and lead the others towards the door.
"You're a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" Liz talked down to K as we left.
The doors shut behind us and we were left with a sour taste in our mouths.
"I'm sorry, Lux. That's the first time K has ever been cold to us." I admitted.
"Yeah, no kidding. He usually never acts that way unless something's really wrong." Liz pointed out.
"I think I know why..." Lux spoke up.
"Oh yeah. Asuna said you two had a past, right? Would you mind filling us in?" I asked and she nodded solemnly.
"It was mainly Laughing Coffin, but I can't say that I wasn't also involved..." Lux began.
Afraid, Coerced, Laughing Coffin: Lux
I was tasked with luring him away from a safe zone within one of towns on an SAO floor. Being the heroic person that he was, it wasn't hard to manipulate him into following me. I simply told him a friend of mine was in dire need of help and broke into tears to successfully convince him. He didn't hesitate to draw his blade and provide aid but unfortunately... it was almost to his downfall. Many moons they tracked the Crystal Swordsman and when they finally caught him, they just couldn't help themselves.
"Please! She's right back here!" I pointed at my friend who was being pinned by another guy.
K charged in to save her, stabbing the assailant without hesitation but two other men instantly closed in behind him. One cut the back of his knee and the other kicked him down to put him in a headlock. The girl just laughed as she walked up and smashed the bottom of her hilt into the top of his head, knocking him out instantly instead of killing him.
"We need him alive, so stop choking him out. Boss has special plans for this son of a bitch." She laughed.
"You don't even feel the slightest bit bad, do you?" I tried to point out.
"Shut up, Lux." She talked down to me as a guy carried K over his shoulder.
"Sorry, Gwen..." I replied.
"Hahahahaa!! I could do this all day!!" A cloaked Laughing Coffin member slashed repeatedly at the Crystal Swordsman's exposed arms.
His hands were chained behind his back and his HP began to drain over time. It was reduced to less than half as he looked up at his aggressor first, then to me with a glare. Gwen laughed with a nudge to my arm and the cloaked male backhanded K across the face.
"Look into my eyes, you little rat. I'm going to enjoy putting an end to your sad story." He lifted K's chin and as he reeled back his blade but was suddenly startled by a voice.
"That's enough, Tavarich. You've had your fun." The hooded leader spoke sternly as he approached just behind the player.
The leader moved his ally out of the way and looked down at the Crystal Swordsman from beneath his dark hood. K stared up angrily and they both exchanged glares until the leader suddenly chuckled.
"To think that the fabled Zade let you live on. How pitiful." The leader brought up his cleaver blade and the Crystal Swordsman hung his head in acceptance.
His allies started laughing with Gwen next to me and I inherently started to cry.
"Sir! The Knights of the Blood Oath know of our location! They'll be converging on us at any moment now!" A panicked member entered hastily.
The leader froze and peeked back at the informant before returning his gaze back to the Crystal Swordsman at his feet. He lowered his cleaver blade and held it at his side with a chuckle. He dropped a potion and K looked up at him in confusion.
"Don't bleed out now. We still have much to discuss." The leader smirked and walked away with the other members.
The Crystal Swordsman's aggressive eyes met mine that day and I just frantically left to follow Gwen. I heard later that he escaped before the leader could return after an apparent false alarm, but not much else was known after that. They tried to find him for awhile but it was almost like he disappeared. Some assumed that he died, but the leader never gave up searching for him.
"And that was it? That was how you met him?" Leafa asked.
"Yes. I deceived him and almost lead him to his death. I still feel horrible to this day." I admitted.
"K's usually a forgiving person, but I guess I understand now why he turned you away." Liz added.
"It's okay... I shouldn't be here anyway..." I looked down and started to walk away.
"Wait, Lux!" Leafa spoke up but I didn't listen.
"Wait!!!" Silica chased after me and pulled on my outfit.
"You have to stay, Lux! Even if K doesn't trust you yet, he will eventually! I just know he will!" She encouraged me and I saw a spark in her eyes.
It was the same familiar spark I had seen many years ago in that nightmare world of a death game. I slowly smiled and gave a solemn nod back.
"Okay, Silica. For you, I will try my best." I pet her cute Cat Sith ears.
"So, come on then! Let's bust down his doors one more time." Lizbeth confidently lead the route forward to K's quarters.
"Uhh... are you sure we should be doing this?" I asked nervously.
"Relax, I do this all the time." She assured and climbed the stairs.
"She really does do it all the time." Silica giggled next to me.
"And she somehow gets away with it." Leafa added as we all followed Liz to the front entrance.
Liz smiled back at us before bursting the doors open as loud as she possibly could.
"Hello, Killer K!" Liz yelled with a smile as K sat and pet a little grey wolf upon his lap.
A white wolf was right next to him and a large black wolf was taking a nap off to the side.
"That's an old one. You get that from an info broker?" K sipped on a glass of extreme ice water.
"No pardon for the interruption, we're telling you how it is! Lux is our friend and if you're gonna exile her, you're gonna have to exile us too!" Liz yelled.
"She means the world to us! And we're not gonna leave her behind!" Silica yelled too while holding my hand.
"Besides K, she was twisted into that whole situation." Leafa spoke up.
"I am sincerely sorry for leading you astray... they made me do it. Honest." I looked down at the ground in shame.
"She laughed in the face of my demise." K growled.
"She was crying, K. Everyone else was laughing." Leafa assured.
"I was trapped with them. I didn't want to cause any harm..." I sadly replied.
"Well then? How is being free?" K reluctantly asked.
"Amazing. Every minute of it is a blessing and I can't wait to see more of this beautiful world we've adapted to." I looked up at him and explained passionately.
"Is that right? Hm. Welcome aboard then." K continued to pet the pup on his lap.
"Now I know what you're thinking, and I assure you she's- Wait, Huh??" Liz was prepared to convince.
"Yes. Although, in order to enter our allegiance, you must pass an entry exam." K explained.
"What? I didn't have to pass an entry exam." Silica was confused.
"Yeah, neither did I." Liz turned to K with a tone.
"What kind of entry exam?" I stepped forward and asked confidently.
"A duel. Against me." He was clear.
"A duel?!" The others were shocked.
"Yes. If you win, you'll be immediately entered into our ranks and I'll even consider you part of our overall faction." K explained.
"And if I'm to lose?" I asked.
"We shall see. Rah?" K commanded and the little grey wolf stood up and shined in the light.
It hopped off and joined the white mother as K stood up and lead us out the double doors. He flapped up with his black feathered wings and did a flip, landing at the bottom of the staircase swiftly. He chuckled as he drew his legendary crystal sword but for some reason he stared at the ground.
"Honestly, I should just make this spot into a mini arena. It's where our practice fights always happen, might as well utilize the space." K declared, pointing his blade to me as we reached the bottom of the steps.
"You sure you wanna do this, Lux?" Leafa asked with a hand to my shoulder.
"Of course. This will be an interesting experience." I pushed my hair out of the way and stepped confidently forward.
I summoned both of my swords, one white, one black and readied in my perfected sword stance.
"Ahh, a dual wielder. Just like Kirito." He said.
"You know Kirito too??" I was shocked.
"I do indeed. One could even say we're brothers in arms." K shrugged.
"I see." I catalogued but then adjusted my foot placement as I activated my sword skill.
"This will be fun." He activated his too and went for an immediate jab.
I chopped his blade out of the way and tried a slice across his chest but he blocked it. I managed to quickly land a slice across his side with my other sword as I reversed. He growled and went for a hard overhead swing but he missed, allowing me to slice his arm. I strafed around and slashed at one of his wings before he kicked me sliding back. I knelt until I stopped and looked up to see the Crystal Swordsman with bright purple glowing eyes.
"Damn you..." His whole body began to glow as he swapped his grip on his sword.
I let out a brief gasp when I recognized his infamous unique sword skill for myself: Reverse Grip.
"K! Don't take the duel personal!" Leafa yelled but he was already charging me.
K spun his crystal blade as he advanced and I barely managed to fend him off even with both of my blades ready. He grew mad and reeled back a tense burning hand to which I immediately flew up into the air. K fired a purple fireball where I was and looked up as I came back down swiftly. I sliced both of my blades across his shoulders and he collapsed to one knee from the force. He panted heavily as his HP slowly lowered, but he looked back up at me with an angry glare. His eyes suddenly turned to a glowing red and he balled up his fists, trying to get back up.
"That's enough, K!" I hesitantly took a stance but Leafa tried to talk him out of it.
Just as she said that, his glow expelled and he ran out of breath as he caught himself on his hands.
"I... I submit." K panted.
"I'm sorry... I don't blame you for being angry at me." I admitted as I offered to help him up.
"No. It is I who should truly be apologizing." He took my hand and stood to bow his head.
"You're god damn right it is." Liz put her fists on her hips.
"And I shall, over a nice dinner. You can meet my family too." K gestured back to his royal quarters but winced when he went to point.
Silica came up behind and healed him quickly with a giggle as she looked to me.
"It's about time." Silica agreed.
"Perhaps you can fill us in a little more on what happened." Leafa suggested.
"Perhaps." He chuckled and lead the way.