Ashi Blades (An SAO Fanfiction)

Chapter 12

- Dedicated to @13Cats for being such a dedicated reader of mine on Wattpad. This was not given for the challenge. -

We lodged in a small inn beside a small, dark alleyway that seemed to lurk with "poor" NPCs that had tragic back stories; families dying, children perishing, or even simply near death experiences.

Time skip. So many...

The following morning it was just me and Usu up the whole day. The Floor Seven boss fight seemed to wear them out, especially trying to control those sisters to stop them from getting in our way. Besides that, we took on our usual job: cafe waitresses. We were excited because we were the only ones on Floor Eight besides the sisters, and only one floor away from our dream location: Floor Nine. There, we could open our armory restaurant. Or whatever. I dunno.

The shift was quiet and boring, with Usu trying to busy herself with "dirty" dishes. Considering how the sisters never really enjoyed staying in secondary towns, claiming they were "gross, disgusting and had the worst home conditions," they never came by.

The occasional NPC came into the cafe every now and then and ordered a small and cheap dish. We only made about four thousand Col that day.

When our shift ended we had made ourselves some Unmeltable Snow Unberry Flavored Cones. We had forgotten to sell our Unmeltable Snow that the skeleton horses dropped on Floor Two, and we gathered some Unberries on Floor Seven in the flower field. We walked outside into the baking heat, slurping our cones. I glanced up at the big sign that was above the cafe. In big, bold, Aerial size twenty font (lol) were the words Hajime Cafe. The sign glinted in the setting sun. We walked back to the inn where everybody still slept. I walked into my room to find Falckon sitting on the bed, brandishing a level forty two sword - the Ra. It was told it deals about eighty eight damage with one hit.

"Falckon," I said calmly, softening my voice, "are you okay?" His eyes were blank, the red blade in his hand. "And I thought that was a Floor Nine sword."

He nodded. "It is. I traded." He looked up at me. He stood up from his spot on the bed and walked over and wrapped his fingers in mine. Opening the door, the sword on his back, he lead me out of the room. I felt a sense of love. His fingers were tightly wrapped into mine, with a passion.

He lead me out of the town into the sand. We kept walking straight until we came upon a dead tree. In the setting sun it all looked so beautiful. I sucked it all in with my eyes, cherishing the moment. He took out rope from his inventory, still holding my hand. He shoved me into the large trunk of the dying tree and pinned me there. I gasped from shock.

He took the rope and laced it tightly around me. "Falckon, Falckon, stop!" I screamed, the rope becoming tighter. He took out and replaced his armor with a cloak. He ripped off a remarkably large piece of it and shoved it into my mouth.

"Mmph!" I tried, wriggling in the ropes. He equipped the Ra he was holding earlier. He slunk toward me with a drunken look in his eyes. He thrust the sword into my stomach.

"MMMPHMM!!" I tried screaming again, my stomach squirting blood and mouth pouring a fountain of it.

I fell limp. No, I won't die here. I tried looking for a way out of things. He hadn't tied the cloth to my mouth. I took my tongue, moving it in my mouth and shoving the soggy ball of cloth out. I screamed at the top of my lungs, still battling my restraints and the turning sword in my stomach. My health bar was depleting dramatically. Soon enough, what I worried for came. The dizziness. The world faded slowly, slowly, slowly.

Slowly. Then I heard running, screaming, yelling.

Slowly.

Black.