book two: trapped || sword art online

Chapter 6

Published: 01/06/2017; Friday; 8:25pm; Unedited

"Eight...eleven...three...two...three, two , nine!" Ume muttered as she typed in the pass-code to the door of her cage. She hesitated, then pressed enter, her breath hitching as the the bars raised and she let out a sigh of relief.

Everything was thought out, as she knew Sugō won't be returning until tomorrow because of business with her father, and she only get checked on once a day. Which already happened, so she was putting her plan into action. This was it. She was going to get out.

She glanced behind her and to her crystal wings, focusing on them, and willed them to move. The twitched. She huffed and looked forward, stepping out of the cage and breathed in, then started sprinting down the pathway on the spiral branch. It seemed like forever until she finally reached a sort of door, running right into it, panting. The door opened to her presence and she stumbled in, leaning on the wall and glancing inside.

The hallway was clear.

She walked down the hall stealthily, glancing around the turns to make sure she wouldn't be caught, before running again. It would be better not to waste any time in trying to be quiet when she could get out faster.

When she turned a corner, she almost cried out with joy when she saw a sort of map on the wall. 'Log out-- I need to find a place where I can log out!' Her eyes darted around the map, but rather then finding what she wanted, she saw--

Her stomach clenched, remembering something Sugō once told her on one of his visits.

"What makes you think you're so special, Ume?" He whispered in her ear, making her flinch in his hold from behind her. "You're not the only one being held captive."

Now she knew what he meant as the words Experiment Hangar stared her right in the face on the map. 'He wouldn't... ' She paused. 'But, he would.' Right then and there, she made up her mind. She'd be damned if anyone thought she would be selfish enough to leave those poor people here with him.

Taking a glance at where she was, she found that the room wasn't far and set off to find it at a much faster pace.

'Just you watch, Sugō, this will all bite you back in the ass!'

~*~

Kazuto froze, the sudden question caught him off guard. Though it was the content of the question that made his mind go blank for a few seconds before turning to Sugu, who had asked the question.

"Huh?" Was what left his lips, still trying to process the simple question. "Oh," he straightened, sending a small smile to his sibling, "sure, if you want to, I guess." He looked down again, continuing to chop the tomato. "I'm sure Ume and her family would appreciate the visit."

"...yeah..." Sugu turned to walk around the counter, carrying a small bowl of salad and set it on the kitchen table. "Well, let's eat!" Kazuto nodded, and began finishing his preparations.

Sugu set the table with silverware and glasses of water, thoughts running towards the girl, Ume, that her 'brother' and his...girlfriend were so caught up on. Sure, she liked Asuna, she was a nice person, but...

She knew the look of someone in love. She had seen it in her own eyes so many times, and it's hard to miss. Asuna was in love with her brother, just as she was, and that's why she wanted to go with Kazuto on a visit. Because despite being with Asuna, it was that little sparkle in his eyes whenever they talked about her that made Sugu curious.

The look that Asuna would give him when he did so also made her realize that she is aware of it as well. Sugu noticed something else.

Her brother was unaware of his own feelings.

So she wanted to meet Ume; to satisfy her curiosity, to see what Asuna competition is, and to meet the girl that has her brother so head over heels in love that he doesn't even realize it.

Sugu was really, really curious.

~*~

The door opened automatically, and the reality of what was inside made her want to throw up. She was expecting people in cells, crying out for help, hoping for a chance of freedom, but this...

This was cruelty.

Ume walked in, the door closing behind her, walking around before going up to one of them, the hologram of a brain proving her theory. Sugō's words echoed in her head.

"...by stimulating the limbic system of the brain, it might be possible to manipulate thoughts, emotions, and even memories. I could even alter yours..."

She shook her head, glaring at the brain, wishing she knew how to help. The beeping around her making her clench her hands in her dress, they were all suffering, all of them are... "You won't get away with this, bastard, I'll make sure of it!" She was about to head to the exit when something caught her attention.  A sort of cube was floating at the end of one of the aisles, making her heart pound.

Could it be?

She sprinted to it, jumping to latch on to what looked like a key card, sliding it down. It had to work, right? This was it? She could finally be free? Panels appeared before her and she hissed a small "yes!" before looking for a log out key.

She trailed her eyes down a list of different transportation keys, and the second to last one was the one that made her heart almost stop. Exit VR Lab. Without hesitation, she pressed her index finger to it, and a small notification popped up. All services will be terminated upon logging out. If you do nothing, the service will automatically log out after a two minutes wait.

Cancel. Logout.

"Holy shit...this is it..." she breathed, but froze as she heard the door hiss open, hitting cancel and throwing herself behind a pillar, peeking around and hoping that nobody saw her. There, at the door, were two purple slugs, talking about something she couldn't hear, and went to on of the pillars on the opposite side of where she was at.

'I could have hit logout, I could left! But I feel like...' she glanced up at the key card, biting her lip. 'I feel like I need to take the key card.'

And so? She chanced it. making sure that the slugs were still occupied, she darted out and jumped again and took the key card out, and ducking behind the same pillar again, and hiding the card tucked into the back part of the waistband of the skirt before peeking around the pillar.

They had moved, but they were still very from her, and she got ready. All or nothing. She pushed off enough forced to give her a good speed but it was when she was halfway across the room when she heard one of the...things call out.

"Shit! It's the girl the boss keeps locked up. Get her!" She pushed herself to go faster, not daring to look behind her as she reached the door, letting it open. She ran into the wall outside before shooting off in the direction she came from, not stopping as she heard them getting closer.

Getting through the halls seemed a lot shorter than before, as she reached the exit not log after but then she realized.

She's just heading back to the cage. The thoughts made her freeze and whirl around, wide eyes as the slugs came to a stop. They glared at her, inching closer.

"Just stop running already, we don't want trouble."

"Man, why is the boss so obsessed over this kid?"

An idea popped in her head, but she wasn't even sure if she would live to tell the tale. Would it even work.

"Let's take you back to the cage."

'The cage or possible death?'

This was her decision, she was not going back to that cage. Not if she had anything to say about it. "I'd rather die!" She shouted and she didn't go towards them nor the path for the cage. Instead, she took the only path to get away from the one place everyone wanted to reach.

Ume jumped off the World Tree without a second thought.