Always Be There For Me [Discontinued]

Chapter 14: Her Final Message

~Kirito~

I made my way back to the inn so I could get ready for the event. What's this event? At Christmas Eve, or later tonight, "Nicholas the Renegade", the event boss, will appear. A lot of guilds are trying to search for Nicholas the Renegade. What's so special about this event? In this world, the dead won't return. But there's a rumor that Nicholas the Renegade drops an item that can revive the dead. I'm planning get the revival item to revive Sachi. Yes, Sachi. I promised her she would live until the end of the game, but seems like I broke the promise. I lied to her and all of them about my level. And that's what killed Keita: my arrogance.

"You were a beater. You never had any right to be with us!" Keita yelled as he looked at me, hands clutching the keys to the house they were supposed to move into. We were standing by the edge of Aincrad. Keita then climbed onto the fence, ready to fall off. It was suicide. I rushed in to save him but he already fell to his death.

The guild, Moonlit Black Cats, was deceased.

I stood up as soon as I finished equipping all my gear and headed to Myugen. When I arrived, I saw that Eruna was already there, laying on a bench, eyes closed. She was geared up and ready, just like I told her to. The only person not here yet was Asuna.

I walked towards Eruna and saw her stir when I was in front of her. Eruna got up and looked at me.

"You're here." Eruna said.

"Yep."

"So. What are we gonna fight when Asuna gets here?"

"How did you know we were going to fight something?"

"Dude, you told us to bring our weapons. Why would you tell us to bring our swords and stuff? What, we're going to use our weapons to chop up some food and cook it for Christmas Eve? Uh, I don't think so."

"Oh, right," I said flustered, "Well we're going to..." I explained about Nicholas the Renegade and about the revival item to Eruna.

"You're going to try to revive Sachi, aren't you?" Eruna said when I finished.

"How did you know?" I asked suspiciously. She hasn't been stalking me or anything, right?

"Just a guess. Who else are you gonna revive?" Okay, she got me. "So this is the only chance the boss appears, right?" Eruna asked. I nodded my head.

"Kirito, Eruna, I'm here!" I heard Asuna yell. I could see her running over here, holding a basket in her hands. When she reached us, she put the basket down and sat next to Eruna. "So, what are we gonna do?"

Eruna explained the whole thing to her.

"Ohhhh. Okay! Are we going yet?" Asuna asked.

"Um, we actually still have to search for this Nicholas dude, so we should be going now. And I think I might have an idea where it is." I said and we headed towards to snow covered forest.

~~~

~Asuna~

Yeesh it's cold right now. We're still looking for some tree or something, currently on Floor 35, Forest Maze. It's snowing pretty hard right now, the wind is really cold, and it's really chilly. I feel like I'm gonna freeze to death! But I guess it's kinda worth it because Kirito wants this revival item for a reason, right?

"Are we there yet?" I asked. I could see Kirito shaking his head, continuing to walk along with Eruna. I blew on my hands, wondering if they were blue or something.

"Are we there yet?" I asked again after a few minutes.

"No." Eruna replied. I rubbed my hands together, trying to keep them warm. Almost every tree was covered in thick blanket of snow and it was still snowing really hard.