Rose knows the end of an era is coming the second she hears about Yggdrasil shutting down. As an ode to the game and everything it had done to shape her life, the stubborn bride-to-be convinces her fiance and 13-year-old sister to log in one last th...
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"Oh, wow! Rose! This place is amazing!" Aster did a slow twirl to breathe in the glory of my guild's palace. I was pleased with her response. We had all worked so hard to create something impressive, and it looks like our hours of work paid off. "It's a real live castle! I'm just like a Disney princess!"
"How old are you again?" Rose teased, Aster's icy blue eyes immediately narrowed in disgust making Rose laugh harder.
The NPCs were great, but there was something nice about having people from the real world fill this place up again.
"Come on," I found myself speaking, "I have something I want to show you."
I could tell Aster was still wary of me by the way she skipped ahead slightly and hid behind her sister. I couldn't blame her, looking the way I did I was sure I reminded her more of a villain in one of her movies than a hero.
I turned the corner and trotted down the next hall. Nazarick. Full of life again. I felt happy. Truly and deeply.
"Where is he taking us? This is really creepy." I ignored Aster's failed attempt at whispering and instead focused on the soft lull of Rose's giggle. Every time I heard her voice I was sixteen again. Blushing fiercer than I had when I'd touched Albedo's breasts.
"Trust him, he's a friend." Rose encouraged. I was glad to see her blind faith in me hadn't faltered and I was determined to prove her trust in me wasn't misplaced.
Our footsteps echoed and I could feel Aster's uncertainty settling. "I just don't like him," she admitted and I felt the daggers in her voice scraping against my bones, "I mean, what kind of guy forces us into a deep sleep?"
"The kind that has just enough grounds to suspect us as we do him," Rose didn't miss a beat, "and besides, I thought you felt just like a Disney princess here. You always struck me as a Repunzel."
"S-shuttup!" Aster hissed. "That's not fair! You know she's my favorite!"
Rose giggled again, and out of the corner of my eyes, I spied her lunging for her sister to embrace her in some sort of weird death hug. "It'll be fun!" Rose cooed. "And if it's not, I'll get Celeste to bail us out! We can lock Ainz in a room and force feed him cookies until he's our friend, okay?"
"What happened to warrior Aurora? I feel like she'd back me up here." Aster mumbled. Rose laughed harder. The sound tickled my insides.
"I thought you wanted me! Your goofy old sister. Isn't that what you said? Come on! Think about how great the cookies would taste! We could stuff Oreos inside chocolate chip cookies! Just like the good ole days! Death cookies! Remember?"
"Oh, God! I threw up eating those!" Aster's energy eased. "You never baked them all the way through! They were just blobs of warm dough."
"I see no problem. Warm cookie dough is the best. And the added bonus of an oreo? Gold. Pure. Gold."
