Secret of SAO

Elementary

Klein's body slide down the towards a slope and he suffered no damage, as a result. He did, however, slam right into Griselda and they rolled a couple times.

Klein stood up and extended his hand to Griselda. "You alright?" He asked sheepishly.

She smiled at him again, even though, she couldn't see him, too well. She graciously accepted his hand and pulled herself to her feet. "I'm fine. Looks like you and I, are working together, after all. We won't be able to climb back up, so there must be another way." She looked around finding a stream, running alongside them. "Let's follow that stream and see where it leads."

Klein had no objections.

"...lein... elda... ight...?!" They heard their friends voices, but barely.

"Don't worry about us! We will find another exit! Go on without us!" Griselda called out to their friends, not knowing how much, they were actually going to hear.

"Shall we?" Klein tried to be chivalrous in offering his arm for support.

"We shall." She joined him in the creek and they walked through it, for a while.

"Who would have even guessed, this was even down here?" Klein tried to break the silence, so it wouldn't get awkward.

"This world fascinates me, everyday." She seemed like she was slipping into a dream. "There are so many things to do. You could live your whole life in this game and never be the wiser."

"Yeah. Don't you want to see the real world again?"

"I don't remember it. It was so long ago. This may sound weird to you, but this is my reality now. Whether I accepted it or not, wouldn't change that. I am content with who I am now."

"Not at all. I understand. It was like that in SAO, for me too. I knew to keep pressing on, but when it came to it, I really didn't mind being in the game anymore. The only thing that kept me going, was that I didn't want to see anyone else die. I wanted everyone to be free from that death game."

"I have a hard time believing that." She teased.

"No joke." Klein assured her.

"I saw what that game did to people." Her expression got heavy. "I watched my husband turn into someone else. He was so scared at first, but then he started to close up. I couldn't talk to him anymore. He started drinking and I knew if I thought like that, we would surely die. I had to make a difficult decision and leave him behind. Then he turned on me. I don't know how, but I knew it was him. He had hired Laughing Coffin to kill me... I'm sorry. I am dumping all my problems on you."

"It's okay."

"You have a way of making people feel at ease around you. I feel like I could tell you anything. It's silly because I don't know you all that well." She was surprisingly cheery again. Not much could bring her down.

"I am glad to be of service." Klein bowed, with his arm extend to allow her to pass.

"Your so sweet."

The stream's flow grew stronger and the pull, became more intense.

Klein pulled her towards him. He locked his hand in hers. "We should stick together! Don't want to get separated."

Griselda didn't mind the gesture and they continued wading through the stream, knowing full well, how much of a pain it would be to turn back.

The stream started to turn into a river as water came crashing into the creek, from all directions. Water poured from the walls and entered from other streams.