Project Ragnarok: Chapter 2

Tsukiyomi was certainly seeking trouble. He had done quite well pissing off Gwenhwyfar in the real world, and he was doing even better in the virtual world. Little damn perverted pest that he was. "What would I do if something happens to you?" He said with a childish pout. "You have half of my heart!" He pressed his cheek against hers, arms tightening around her waist. She was his prized possession, and if not for Lancelot... Well, some plans are better not said.

Smooth, the others laughed. But Gwen was less than pleased. As a matter of fact, she was burning in rage. "Half of your heart, your ass!" She yelled at him, flipping him over to their round, wooden table, said furniture rattling terribly under his heavy weight. He winced, but quickly recovered, sliding down the side of the table. But he knew better than making her flip him the second time around. With a hearty laugh, he sat on his seat by her side.

Lancelot came shuffling from the Solars, his hair a little messy and dark circles under his eyes. His hoarse voice greeted them all with a groggy 'Good day,' as he pulled on the seat on the other side of the guild captain. His icy blue eyes shot the Spriggan a glare upon noticing his sister fuming in anger. Laevateinn was there as well, and she simply rolled her eyes. It was unusual for their guild manor to be this empty. Although they didn't have much members as they used to have in Sword Art Online, it was not a common sight to have only five players present in such a huge manor house. Whatever they were to discuss, it was restricted to the Captain's most trusted allies.

She was biting on her nail, a bad habit of hers when she's not certain how to begin the discussion. Her fiery red eyes were neither calm nor collected, but anxious, as they stared hard at the wooden table top.

Did something happen? The Undine mouthed at Eustace, who simply shrugged, as clueless as everyone else is. Gwen, having noticed the growing confusion, finally cleared her throat to gain their attention.

"I came across the Black Swordsman a while back," she finally breathed out, almost like a thorn had just been pulled off her throat. "What happened... wasn't so good."

Laevateinn's ears perked up. "Did you fight?" She asked, though her face didn't exhibit any hint of concern or worry. It was stoic.

"No, silly," the Salamander chuckled. That moment, they knew she was nervous. They all can read her fairly well. "But... We came into a small discussion." Finally, she met their eyes. "You know the Cardinal System has a backup of every map, right? That's how we got the New Aincrad, and the Cardinal is also responsible for the recent Holy Sword of the Ice Palace Quest and the Frost Giants we fought." That was general knowledge, and a something programmers like her work on. "Thing is, the system has something processed, and it's not simple."

Eustace cocked his head. "Which is...?"

"Ragnarök."

The air became heavy, and none of them said a word. Lancelot hates it when it gets serious all of a sudden. He's the youngest in the Council and he barely understands how the minds of these older ones work. Damn, he doesn't even know what the bloody hell is that Ragnarök! Their silence irritating him, he finally huffed and crossed his arms, kicking the edge of the table top. "So, what's the deal with this Ragnarök? Wasn't it some sort of online game?"

Gwenhwyfar's sharp stare pierced through his irritation. "Do your homework sometimes, bloody insufferable git that you are." She then rubbed her temples with an exasperated sigh. "Ragnarök is the Nordic apocalypse. The Æsir fight and defeat their sworn enemies, but also die in the end. Humans are wiped from the face of Midgard. Asgard falls, Yggdrasil crumbles, and all those terrible things. When everything is gone, the world starts a new life. Kirito's not sure exactly how it would go in to ALfheim Online, but Yui made an assurance that it'll be as close as it could get."

"More importantly..." Tsukiyomi lifted a hand to raise a question, which was permitted despite the Captain's deadly glares. "... You know the Black Swordsman?"

Gwenhwyfar could have sworn she was ready to hit this jerk right there and then. Why did he have to ask that dumb question now?! But, being bone-tired and beat down she was that moment, she chose to simply take things the calm way. "Yeah... He studies mechatronics in school. Chance meeting in the cafeteria once. Wild lucky guess that he was the Black Swordsman. Had a talk. And all that scheiße. Any more stupid questions, Takeuchi?" When she starts calling them by their real names, it doesn't usually bode well. And she knows the true names of 95% percent of her guild members.

The Spriggan sank to his seat, whistling her anger away.

"If the Cardinal has a back-up of all the maps in-game..." Lancelot was no programmer nor genius like his sister, but he isn't as stupid as Tsukiyomi. "... Then could it delete every data and force restart?" His eyes widened, realizing his last words. "I-I can't lose my Arondight!"

"And I worked hard for your weapons too," Eustace added.

"Doesn't really bother me that much..." Laevateinn shrugged. Lucky ass. She had only been inside the game not too long, having no attachment to anything just yet. If there is someone to agree on a restart, that would most definitely be her, seeing that she has very little admiration for her rather cute avatar.

"Guys... Chill. The Ragnarök was something Kirito hasn't cleared up to me. None of us are sure how the event would go, or how would it end, and what would happen to us faeries." Even Yui could barely get a gist of it. Seems like the system is still working it out, but with the completion of all Nine Worlds, it wouldn't take too long."

Then it was clear why she had told them. After the rift made by Vivien in the first Knights of Round, Gwen had become a fragile person displaying a courageous façade. If things go down to worst, she would need their help. Tsukiyomi worriedly looked over to her from the corner of his eyes and sighed. "Then don't worry much about it. You're overlooking things again. And on the negative side." It was another bad habit of hers, which he easily and effortlessly contradicts. "There are bigger things to be bothered by. Like sleep. Seriously, you haven't gotten a wink of it for three straight days. Take care of yourself. We're still going to get married six years from now." No, he didn't have any love rival. If it counts, his only rivals were the protective younger brother and the over-worried best friend.

"Sleep, yes. Marriage, in your face," she hissed.

Sometime around 11:30 PM.

He was met with glaring green eyes -- he loved those green eyes. Japanese girls don't usually have that eye color, but of course his wife Rai is a lovely, cynical British girl with really short tolerance of his annoying antics. "Why are you sleeping beside me?" She scowled, pulling the blanket up to her chin like a child.

Ryuu chuckled, brushing some strands of brown hair of her face. "Well, I forgot to tidy up Dad's room so he had to use the guestroom, the one you usually use. And you had another argument with your mom so you're sleeping over to my place, again. My hotel doesn't have any more rooms available so deal with me for tonight."

"Sleep in the couch."

"Hey, hey..." He picked up a pillow and squeezed it in between them. "You trust me, right? That's why you pick this place over Chi's."

Little child that she was, her fingers stretched to clutch the cottony fabric of the pillow. "It's because her Dad is a scary-looking war veteran who can pull a trigger faster than anybody could even say hi." Ryuu loved this childish side of her. Being an aloof only child, he'd never knew how it felt to have someone entrust their selves to him, a bond often formed between siblings. Hey, at least he can hug her now like they were a legit couple. With a huff, she turned around, pillow and all, and he was more than happy for that. He scooted closer and made her his own personal snuggle partner, pressing his face against her hair.

When, by chance, it slipped her lips that she feels secured with him, it honestly got him happy, even though she quickly added that it was only because she's confident she couldn't get killed too easily with the Spriggan as her bodyguard. "Love you..."

"Yeah."

"I mean it."

"Yeah."

Author: This is getting more Shoujo-like rather than focusing on ALO. GDI. And I said I'll take it seriously. -7-