Swords of the Soul

Falling, But With Wings

Falling and falling.
The code eventually disappeared and gave way to a dark sky, wind flying through my hair. Looking down - or up?! - to see how far up I was, I felt faint seeing the vast distance between myself and the ground. I reached up and covered my face with my arms, turning my back to the ground.

PleaseGodnopleaseGodno-

The wind suddenly stopped with my bodt giving a slight jolt as I felt something. As the arms that caught me held on tight, I opened my eyes to find a boy with red hair, yellow streaks running through it like flames.
"D... Dea-"
"I suggest you stand up," he quickly stood up himself, dropping me on my feet. He turned his back to me. "Whoever you think I am, Shiro Lady, I'm not. Sorry to disappoint." He jumped up as red wings appeared on his back, quickly flying away.
S... Shiro Lady?
Shiro Lady?!
I looked to check my name was still-
Still what?

Shiramane.

So... it was still the same, huh.
Why he called me Shiro Lady... I'm officially lost.
Looking around, I heard grass crunch beneath my feet. I looked into my inventory, looking through my items. They were all there... even when Aincrad was deleted, my Nerv Gear saved all my... well... gear?
How nice of it.
How sarcastic of me.
I would have to do something so that they went unseen, however...
My thoughts slowly became calm until a single thought floated through it.

The logout button.

My brain suddenly became nervous and terrified. I swiped my right hand once more, pulling upy menu. I quickly tapped through it, immediately turning to the logout button.
What I saw shouldn't have suprised me, but it did.
It was blank.

Just like in SAO...

My heart beat loudly into my ears, cutting off all sounds around me.

Why...?

I started looking around frantically, searching for someone, something!

Why?! Why why why?! Why again? Why NOW?!

Before I could even tell them to, my feet started moving, controlled by my legs. I forced myself to begin running, searching frantically for something.

GET ME OUT OF HERE!!

I was taking this worse than the time of being trapped in Aincrad.
How long would I be here?

I ran for what must have felt like hours, probably only having been one, however. I reached a tall city, glowing a bright green. It looked pretty in the way I saw it. I felt relief as I ran into the city's inside zone. Upon taking eight feet inside, a sword met the air just before my neck, making me freeze in my tracks.
A man with grey hair and green streaks snarled at me. "What's an Undine doing here?"
The two people behind him shrugged. "Not sure," said one from under a hood. "But why don't we ask her...?"
"What's an 'Undine'?" I questioned them.
They stared at me before beginning to laugh, like I was an idiot. "What an idiot!" The first man yelled.
Theeeeeere it was.
I tensed. What the hell...?
"You're here, playing this game, and you don't know anything about it?! You chose your race, didn't you?!" He laughed.
"Race? What? No! I didn't choose to play this game! I-"
"Don't pull that sort of stunt, kid. You think that if you say you got trapped in this game, we won't mistake you for an idiotic noob? No way. You can't act like you were trapped in Sword Art Online, cause if you were, you wouldn't have lasted two seconds when you found out the truth." Said the first cloaked player.
"Not only that, but with the creator leading the best guild... what a monster." Said the third.

No... you're wrong. He's not-

"Just let her go," a familiar voice said.
We looked over to see a boy with red hair and yellow streaks.

I swear to God... Dealan...?

The main guy took his sword away from my throat. "Oh lookie here. A Salamander..."
The boy held his narrow-eyed expression strongly. "Forget about the issue of me being a different race from you. This may be your city, but you have no right to attack someone who did nothing to you." He stated calmly.
The man grit his teeth. "How about you shut up, YOU-"
There was a woosh of wind as the boy's sword appearend a centimeter from the man's neck. The man froze. "This may be your territory, and I may be unable to attack you or kill you, but I can still hurt you." He tilted his sword slightly, catching a glare of green light.
The man dropped his sword, mouth open. "F... fine. Boys, let's go." He picked up his sword and hurried off. His two buddies followed.
The boy looked to me. Slowly, he walked towards me, returning his sword to its scabbard at his left side. Stopping in front of me, he stared into my eyes. "Shiramane... the Sword of Courage." He whispered.
By body became stiff. If he wasn't Dealan, how did he know?
He quickly took my hand. "We can't talk here," his eyes darted about. "Lets go," he jumped into the sky, wings appearing.
He pulled me into the sky with him. "H-hey!"
"Use your wings, dammit!" He said through clenched teeth. He stopped. "Or... do you not know..." he sighed. "Imagine you have virtualmuscles and bones on your back. Imagine that those bones and muscles connect to wings."
I did as he said, feeling wings on my back.
"Alright... now... go!!" He threw me into the air above him and I screamed. "Use your wings! Focus!" He yelled after me.
Screaming, I somehow managed to get the hang of it. The boy flew up to greet me, smiling. I smiled back and sighed. "So... why are we up here? Who are you, and why couldn't we talk down in that city?"
"That city is called Sylvain. And who knows what kind of spies are always watching the three-hundred-and-one of us; using us." He stared into my eyes. "As for who I am... yes, I am Dealan."
My heart stopped. He was alive... he made it out.
I smiled to myself as I stared at the ground. It was now that I noticed my blue socks, grey and white boots, and mainly white dress acting as armor. I looked up at Dealan, a different question in mind. "What do you mean... 'three-hundred-and-one of us'? Is that how many players are playing this game?"
He shook his head. "No. Come on," he started flying quickly, and I followed. "You see, I found that three-hundred of us SAO players have become trapped in this game called Alfhiem. It was really just a glitch, so we'll be out in a few months. But until then, someone thought it wise to have certain players watch over us; spies, in a way. And only players from SAO... only the ones who didn't wake up when it ended are stuck in Alfhiem. You... you woke up." He explained.
I stared at him ahead of me. This didn't seem like Dealan. "How did you know it was me?"
Catching him off guard, he slowed, I did too, until we stopped. He turned to stare at me. Moments passed before he gave a warm smile. "Your eyes. Only one person could have eyes neon like that."
I reached up and felt my face in disbelief.

My eyes...

I looked up at him, opening my mouth to talk. A shrieking static in my head forced me to stop, gripping my skull in pain. Dealan said something, I know he did, but I heard nothing. A voice I couldn't figure out started saying things to me.

Akihiko.

Akihiko...

Memories of SAO filled my head, and I felt sudden anger.

I hate...

Akihiko Kayaba.

Images of my life as a child flooded into my head, when Akihiko was smiling with me, making me laugh, hugging me, comforting me when I cried... only they didn't feel how they should. Each memory was tinged with anger, for some reason, somehow.

Akihiko Kayaba killed you.

I... I hate Akihiko Kayaba...

He killed you. You wanted him dead. You got your wish.

I grit my teeth.

No... no, that's not true. I love Akihiko.
I hate Akihiko.
I love him.
I hate him.
I can't hate him.
I hate him. I don't. I hate him. I don't. I hate him! I don't! I hate him!! I DONT HATE HIM!!

My head began to hurt from the screaming conflict.

PLEASE DONT MAKE ME HATE HIM AGAIN!!!!

Just like that, I fell.
Right out of the sky.
I fell out of the sky like a dead bug.
Another voice floated into my mind, heard over the wind.

"This is not the gift I wanted to give you..."