Goodbye Yui

1.3K 40 6
                                    

"When we first started the Army, it wasn't supposed to this sort of organization in the first place. It was our leader, Thinker's idea." Yuriel, the woman we met, speaks. "The point of the guild was to distribute information and food to those who need it. But after some internal debate, one man in particular rose to power." She explains the situation. "His name is Kibou. His group became stronger and stronger, monopolizing the best monster spawn areas. They're out of control, and extorting players under the pretext of collecting taxes. It's clear Kibou doesn't aim to clear the game, and that upset a lot of people. He tried to get back on their good sides, and sent his best men to the front lines." She says.

"Are you talking about that idiot who tried to clear Floor 74 with half dead men?" I asked.

"Yes, that was him. He was denounced for starting that massacre, and we seriously considered kicking him out of the guild. He got desperate, and tried to eliminate Thinker. He first tried to reach out to an assassin, a small girl by the title 'Death by Twilight'." Yuriel says.

Kirito looks at me. "I did get an anonymous message asking me to take out a man named Thinker. But after some snooping, I found he wasn't the kind of target I was after." I explain.

"You must be Death by Twilight. Why are you here?" Yuriel asked.

"I'm trying to not kill anyone anymore. I'm trying to change." I tell her. "Anyway, continue on." I gesture.

"Right then. Kibou, after the assassin attempt failed, he set a trap for Thinker. And now he's stuck in a dungeon."

"Can't he teleport out?!" Kirito asked.

"No, he can't."

"How about weapons? Can he fight his way out?" He continues to ask.

"Kibou told him he wanted to talked, unarmed. Thinker believed him. I'd go myself, but my level isn't high enough to go down there. As his second in command, this is my responsibility. And Kibou is using his influence to stop the rest of the army from helping me. He's been trapped down there for three days."

"If you think we can help, then I'm willing to. But it's Sheik's call." Kirito says.

"I dunno. I don't trust her." I say. "But you know what, I think your rash mind is getting to me. I'll go." I say.

"Well then, Yui, you stay here with the other kids." Kirito says.

"No! I'm going!" Yui protests.

"C'mon Yui, don't you want to stay here with me?" The woman of the orphanage asked.

"No!" Yui rejects her, and hugs Kirito's arm.

"Yui. Behave yourself. You're staying here, and that's final." I step in.

"No!" Yui starts to cry a bit.

"Yui, I will put my foot down! I'm no pushover like your father, and I will not let you go to the dungeon with us!" I scold her. "You will stay here, and you will not follow us! If you try, you don't want me to get mad!" I yell.

She flinches, and nods slowly. "Okay mommy..." Yui finally agrees.

I sigh, and kiss her tiny forehead. "I'm sorry for yelling. But please, try to understand we want you to stay safe." I say, and put on my equipment. "Okay. Take care of Yui, please. We'll be back in a bit." I say, and the three of us (Yuriel, Kirito, and me) leave the orphanage for the Black Iron Palace.

"I didn't know there was a dungeon down here. It's only Floor 1, so the monsters can't be that bad." Kirito comments.

"I have to disagree. The monsters down here are close to the levels on Floor 90 and above." Yuriel states.

"That is troubling." I say, looking behind us.

"What's up?" Kirito asked.

"I just feel as if someone is following us. I can't tell who though." I say.

"If it's you who senses it, someone must be there. You do have the highest sensory stats I know of." He says back.

"Let's go. We'll draw them out eventually." I say, and the three of us walk down the steps into the dungeon.

After awhile of walking, I finally got the evidence I needed to know who was following us. "Yui, I know you're there. Go back to the orphanage." I tell her, and turn around.

Yui pokes her head from around the corner, and runs over to us. "No! I wanna stay with mommy and daddy!" She says as she hugs me.

"Yui... Sheik, I think we should take her from here. The monsters we killed back there probably respawned by now." Kirito says.

"Sending her back alone wouldn't be ideal, as she's just a little girl. But still, I'm impressed she she managed to follow us. She is quite brave." Yuriel says.

"Don't encourage her behavior! Ugh... Guess we have no choice at this point. Fine. But afterwards, you're in serious trouble, young lady!" I scold her again, and have her stay close to me.

Going deeper in, we see a light down a long hall. "Something's off." I comment. "I sense a player down the corridor, but there's also this-"

"Thinker!" Yuriel calls, and runs ahead.

"Hey, wait! Don't go down there so fast!" I shout, but she wasn't listening.

I could hear Thinker calling as well. "Yuriel! Stay back! The corridor is rigged!" He warns her, but she didn't seem to hear him from where she was.

Kirito runs forward, blocking a large scythe attack from the corner of the large room. A black cloak flew by to the other corner, before revealing itself to us. A boss monster by the name of "The Fatal Scythe". We couldn't see its HP, or its level. It must've been close to the level of the boss monster of Floor 95, or something. In other words, this thing was way out of our league.

To make a long story short (and because the creator is lazy to write this part), Yui turned out to be a sort of player relief system, to help players calm down and help them encourage themselves that they can do this. She was forbidden to do this function, however, as the system running the game, the Cardinal system, prevented her from leaving her dark space. She watched everything, players suiciding to me killing others. But she was curious about the relationship between me and Kirito, and wanted to feel like she was part of a family. She also didn't know I was a boy, so she apologized for that too. I didn't really mind at this point, however, as being called mommy really rubbed off on me. I don't know why.

Anyway, after a teary crying session, I managed to save Yui's data into my Nerve Gear. Kirito was about to do it, but was pushed away by an electrical shock when he failed to hack into the mainframe. He clearly wasn't a hacker. But I was. I studied computers, coding, and gaming in my free time, so it wasn't hard for me to save Yui. She was stored in a small, azure crystal, which Kirito made into a necklace for me. I wear it pride, as a way to say "I'm a boy mother and I'm proud!" kinda thing.

Yuriel and Thinker were teleported out of the dungeon with the teleport crystals we gave them, and we never saw them again.

On the way home, I had my hand on Yui's crystal the whole way, feeling pretty happy about myself. Maybe being a trap isn't so bad after all.

Sword Art Online; Sheik's StoryWhere stories live. Discover now