Time had stopped. Literally. Weird black and purple diamonds floated around her, creating a wall engulfing her and Nelson. It was like Heidi was in a dream. She stopped, the clear tears still pooling in her eyes, and looked around, wondering if she had gone crazy, or had died. Everybody was frozen in motion, weapons in the air, hitting the giant, who was as still as stone. Max's fighting face was on, as she blocked an attack from a monster, and Remi looked terrified as she looked towards Heidi's an Nelson's way, her hand outstretched. Thomas was holding her back, his face in a grimace, his short, golden blonde hair sweaty. It was so strange.
"What.. The hell." She muttered, her voice echoing around the room, adding to the eerie feeling. After that it was silent again. But then, she moved her gaze to Nelson- the Giant's club hadn't hit him yet, and he was staring up at it, his sword halfway there to block. Heidi knew he wouldn't make it in time.... Time. If.. Time was frozen, couldn't she just, move him out of the way? The thought dawned on her, as if a light bulb had went off inside of her head. She bit her lip, playing with her long, blue hair. What would happen if she did? What even was this? Was it a glitch? If it was, there was a chance of corrupting the whole system if she tampered with it.
But there Nelson was, the frightened glint just starting to shine in his eyes, about to be hit and die in an instant. She just couldn't leave him like that, without doing something.
Taking two trembling steps forward, her hands shaking, Heidi grabbed Nelson under the armpits and tugged with all her might, dragging him a few feet out of the way. He should be safe now, at that distance.
As soon as she let go of Nelson's torso, a large flash appeared before her eyes, blinding her with white light. When she blinked her eyes open again, the rush of battle overwhelmed her, the yells and clashing taking over once more. An ear-splitting screech of stone hitting stone sounded in front of her, as the Giant's club scraped against the floor, missing it's target, which was, of course, Nelson. A choke left Heidi's throat- he was safe. Whatever that glitch was, he was safe. She had never felt so relieved.
"What the..." Nelson muttered, looking up, and then at Heidi, as he realized he was still alive. "What the hell did you do? How am I still alive?!" He gulped, staring at her, with his deep brown eyes.
"Not enough time to explain, just keep fighting, once this is all over, I'll explain!" Heidi yelled back, tears overflowing. Nelson was alright. He was fine.
"Everybody, keep fighting! Backup is here!" Kibaou's voice sounded from across the room- indeed, at the door was everybody's saviour; the raiding party had arrived. It was a goddamn miracle.
"We still have two bars to go through, everybody! Don't take any chances, we can beat this guy with numbers!" Cried the raiding party leader, sending his troops in pairs of two to join each formation.
Eight people joined Heidi's side for fighting the giant, making fending off the mini-monsters easier, and a better block system was quickly formed, for more efficient switching. Soon, everybody fell back into the rhythm of fighting, though every once in a while, a player would drop, making a wrong move. But people didn't have time to be fazed by it; right now, it was fight, or die.
Slowly, bit by bit, the monster's health went down, and by about two hours after the raiding party, it was down to it's final half bar.
"Come on Remi, Heidi, we can do this!" Yelled Max, her curly electric blue hair seeming to crackle. "We're almost done!"
"Hey, what about us?!" Eren protested, huffing as he cut off a monster's head. "We deserve encouragement too!"
"You're doing very well boys!" Remi called out, stopping the babble of argument that was surely going to arise between the two.
"Thank you Remi-Heichou!" Thomas called out to her, rising his voice over the clanking of weapons. Nelson laughed, catching their bit of conversation.
As the Giant's HP got weaker, it's strength and agility went down, and it's defense went up, making it slower, and less of a threat, though doing any real damage was really hard.
But as Heidi hit it with her "Star Slash" combined with Remi's "Flash," Nelson's "Downwards Strike," and Thomas's "Katana Frenzy" They were able to take about a half quarter of it's HP down each time- so far they had done it twice, and only needed to do it once more before it would die.
"Everybody, get into formation!" Heidi yelled, starting her skill set. Nelson, Remi, and Thomas did the same, their swords glowing blue. With a "Hyaaaaaaa!" Heidi rushed forward, taking the first strike, her Blue Rose sword carving a shape of a star in long, deep strokes. Nelson followed next, crossing it with his downwards slash, Remi piercing it with her hundred strong attacks, Thomas finally coming in last, carving into it with his Katana frenzy.
The giant's HP dipped down, only a mere 5 HP from dying- just one more hit would be needed to down this foe.
"DIE YOU LITTLE BASTARD, DIE!!" Came Max's howling voice from behind, as she ran at the Giant, her daggers glinting in her hands. With a jump, and a flip, she leaped onto the beast, her daggers digging deep into it's hard stone. The giant let out a grinding, moaning noise, before dropping sideways to the floor, and bursting into diamonds, leaving Max to fall to the ground on her butt.
The room burst into cheers, everybody raising their swords and howling with delight, as Max turned beet red, realizing that everybody had looked at her as she had screamed, attacked the boss, and fell to the ground.
But nobody seemed to care about how she killed it; it was dead, the nightmare was finally over. What a relief. They were finally a quarter through the game!
"WE DID IT!" Screamed Kibaou, his voice cracking with excitement, as his short, stout body jumped up and down with joy.
The "You have won" sign popped up in front of Heidi, and she accepted it, and it's goods happily, as tired tears slipped out of her eyes. She watched happily, as Max jumped up, pumping her fists, and giving Eren and Remi a hug, gratefully patting Thomas on the back as well.
Somebody tapped her shoulder, making Heidi jump a little. She turned around to see who it was.
"Nel-"
Her words were cut off as Nelson pushed his lips against hers, placing his hands on the small of her back, and against the back of her head, entwining his long fingers with her sweet-smelling hair. She struggled for a moment, surprised, before melting, and kissing him back, closing her eyes. She could taste the salt on his lips, and felt his hot breath against her own. It was like they were in a different world.
After what seemed like hours, but only was moments, they broke apart, looking at the ground, blushing.
"Sorry, I had to do that, at least once. " Nelson whispered, looking at her with his chocolate brown eyes.
"Nelson...."
"Heidi, I love you. " He choked, grabbing her hands. "I've loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you, an-and with me almost dying today, I was scared that I would never have the chance to tell you that."
Tears filled Heidi's eyes, and they pooled out, dripping down her checks, and chin. Nelson reached to wipe them off. She hardly realized the room was silent, and that everybody was watching them, listening for her reply, as if it was a hot romance drama on TV. (That everyone secretly missed watching)
"Ne-Nelson" She hiccuped, wiping them, with her sleeve, "I- I love you too."
Cheers exploded throughout the room, almost, or maybe even, louder than when the beat the boss battle; Max was jumping up and down, while Eren wolf-whistled. Remi clapped along everybody, and Thomas watched them with his jaw open, eyes wide.
"Oh, good; otherwise it would have been really awkward." Nelson laughed, his cheeks glowing red. He rubbed the back of his head, with a sheepish grin.
"You're a dork." Heidi teased, before going on her tip-toes, and kissing him again, this time more quickly than the last.
"Hey lovebirds, lets get back to town; I'm starving!" Max called out to them, laughing.
Heidi and Nelson nodded sheepishly, walking towards them, once more. Thomas left to go join his friends, saying his farewells, and giving them his contact info, in case they were to meet up again sometime.
"Alright gang, let's go up to the 26th floor."
And with that, everybody linked hands, and went up the stair one by one, as a guild. Heidi couldn't wait to kiss Nelson again.