[PP-F4]Behind the Smile (Xion)

[Avilon 0]

It was another cold and dreary night upon the fourth floor, most of the adventurers and NPC resident s all snugged in their beds, dreams of one's and zero's dithering about in their heads. Fire's blasting smoke out from the rooftops to show nothing was the matter, but what was this a solitary inn room checked out. Worst of all no one had claimed the bed with their body. It was the most comforting place to plant herself at this moment. Here she was now sitting alone at the end of the day once more her eyes filled with a salty liquid, tears as most people say. The world was a devastating one to live alone especially upon a game where such drastic changes can constantly change one's life. The night sky was blustering with a large amount of snowflakes, powdering the snow again but a large blizzard was now wafting over the country side. Among the snowy night landscape was a female sitting in the middle of a frozen lake her tears building up onto the thick ice that was hazardous, but she had grown quite use to walking on thin ice in her life as her emotions were enough of a mental roller coaster. Curled up like a fetus in her mother's womb as she now sniffled ever so softly now. 

Avilon's face now pulling out from her knees as she was sitting upon her feet as she continued to wail into the silent darkness that had enveloped her the winter hazards already taking effect. "I-I always w-wanted to dream that this was some sort of heaven, b-but after hearing about more deaths on the front line. I-I wonder why I would ever want to go into that madhouse." The pink haired now streamed back down as her face ducked back into her chest. The warm winter cloak over her body huddled up around her for warmth.

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed as he sat down near a tree on the fourth floor, his light hair was flecked with flakes as he stared into the sky of Aincrad, wondering, pondering. "It's weird..." the tank said to himself. "This world is a death trap, a place where many have lost their lives...but ...at the same time it's beautiful, a true work of art. Why...why would Kayaba want to stain such a beauty with the blood of it's players...?" he asked no one in particular, his mind drifting as he stared blankly. He wasn't bothered by the cold, he had skills which prevented it from affecting him, and the fact that he was encased in a thick layer of red, black, and gold metal. This continued for a while, the boy staring blankly until he heard something, a distance wailing...it sounded like someone crying. "Wha..." he mumbled to himself, being dragged back to reality by the noise. He got up, following the sound as snow crunched under his boots and his armour rattled with a metallic ring. He came to a lake, a frozen one, and in the centre was a small girl, pink haired, huddled on the ice. "Hello...?" he asked, unsure as to what to do as he approached the ice, judging whether he could walk on it without falling in. "Who's there?"

[Avilon 0]

Avilon's face now was stained by the tears as she continued to sit among the icy lake, a grave to larger monsters and animals that were incapable of wandering upon it without meeting the minimum weight requirements. As she sat in the silence, she honestly expect no other soul to be out in the dead of this night as she was then shocked hearing a voice. "W-who?" She winced now turning around to see a familiar figure, one armored as a tank as she wished to be as she now stopped realizing where she recalled the stranger from a few events that had occurred. Lyrica the Wolf. She winced now wiping her face down as she slowly began to stand back up and hold her ground nervously as sniffled. "W-why are you out here at this time of night, shouldn't you be in an inn room already and sleeping through the nigh?" She spoked now realizing the same could be said for her, and the emotional state she was in was even more of a reason she shouldn't have been out here in the perilous frozen tundra. As she stood up she took a step  toward him before shrieking loudly. In an instant the ice had proven it's fragility. Engulfed by the freezing water Avilon now began to bubble as she now shivered coldly inside her winter clothes that were getting waterlogged and weighing her down. Garbled noises appearing as she began to force herself over through the lake away from the center as she tried to locate the hole she fell into.

[Xion 0]

Xion chuckled as the girl turned towards him, surprised by his presence. "Hey...I think I remember you from the Lyrica fight..." he said, looking at the girl as he did. She then asked him why he was out at this time of night, a good question, it wasn't usual for a player to be out so late, and outside of a safe zone too. "Well...I was bored..." he started to say before the girl fell into the lake, the ice beneath her able to take her weight no longer. "[censored]..." he exclaimed before he unequipped his armour, he knew that he would sink instantly with it on, so just his normal black starter clothes would do. He sprinted across the ice, his heavy, determined footsteps causing some of it to crack as he headed towards the girl, sliding down onto his knees and plunging his hand into the icy cold water. "Come on damnit..." he huffed before grabbing hold of  the girl, dragging her out of the water and onto the ice thanks to his high strength in the virtual world. "You...ok?" he asked, out of breath. 

[Avilon 0]

Avilon shivered uncomfortably as she now was sinking into the lake her eyes crying as she couldn't think twice about it, her own thoughts rushing through her mind as she screamed mentally to herself in fear. As she began to sink her eyes now fluttered shot as she swallowed in more of the cold liquid now filling her lunges. As a hand reached down she began to gasp her arm now plucking her out of the water and pulling her out of the frozen lake. As she stopped breathing in the frigid water she began to cough it out as she had panicked and swallowed a fair amount now as she was laid down upon the ice shivering and shaking her head uncomfortably as she weakly closed her eyes. "C-c-cold," She murmured softly no glancing up as her clothes were liable to freeze solid with how saturated with water they were. "I-I"m s-sorry f-for making your reach down into that." Closing her eyes as she now laid there her health bar dropping by a notch as she sadly failed to finish the survival mission that would have helped negated environmental damage like this.

[Xion 0]

Xion let out a sigh of relief, the girl was ok, shocked and with a point or two less HP, but safe. "Come one..." he said before picking the girl up, walking her back to solid land, setting her down in the snow. "Take a few seconds to calm down..." he said before he noticed that she was freezing, it was obvious that the girl hadn't done << the traveller>>, so he needed to find a way to warm her up. "Here" he said as a black trench coat materialised in his hands, the boy wrapping it around the girl. "It's not the best, but you need to warm up..." he said to her, sighing as he kept watch over her. "What's your name...I'm Xion..."

[Avilon 0]

Avilon coughed up a bit more of the cold lake water before now whimpering and resting her head against him shoulder as she was carried back off to the normal safe land. She shuddered now laying wet int he cold white snow as she began to look back. As the trench coat was rapped around her she nodded and then felt herself enveloped in it feeling her clothes still seep against her skin. "I-I'm g-gonna g-get out of these wet clothes r-real quick," her teeth chattering as her health ticked down just a bit more before stopping. She softly slid her hand over the braille menu and then unequipped her current gear and equipped some pajama bottoms and an extra large t-shirt. "Avilon," she coughed now dressed in dried clothes and the trench coat that was keeping her mostly warm. "I-I'm sorry to be a burden t-to you, I don't even know much about you other then you seem to always carry us through the events."

 

[Xion 0]

"Avilon...it's a nice name" the tank said as he watched the girl get changed underneath his trench coat, hopefully she was feeling better. The girl then went on to talk about how she was being a burden to the boy. "No you're not...no one is ever a burden if they need help...we're all trapped in this game, and we should aid one another...although some seem to forget that little fact..." he said with a sigh, before standing up, looking down at the girl. "I help in the events because the whelps and weaklings of today are the frontliners of tomorrow...it only makes sense to help...not to mention that I get some Sp out of it..." he said with a smile, he was right that he knew the girl from the Lyrica fight, and it seemed that she remembered him too. "Are you feeling better now, or do you want me to carry you? I have a shop on floor 1, if you want to warm up you're welcome to stay there" 

[Avilon 0]

She sneezed into the coat and began to wipe her face as she felt like it was real but probably had nothing really behind it. Avilon glanced back before nodding as she heard his response, "I-I always thought the fact that they need help was burdensome as they couldn't do it on their own." Speaking the truth that she was taught in school and home by her father as she needed to stop being a burden because of being blind. "I-I would like that a lot, a-as this is getting kinda cold." Whimpering softly as she now nestled into the coat more as her arms slid back into the large t-shirt as well as her legs as she scrunched up.

 

[Xion 0]

He chuckled and picked the girl up, cradling her almost. "I know a pretty safe way back to snowfrost..." he said before setting off, Avilon in his arms as the girl curled up in his coat, luckily the two were about the same height...and he was relatively strong so that he could carry her. "So..." he said as they were walking "Why were you sitting in the middle of the lake?" he asked, carrying on towards the town gates which were appearing in the distance, waiting for an answer. "We're almost there..."

[Avilon 0]

"N-no reason I just was out, enjoying the cold air I suppose I honestly didn't realize that there was a lake under the snow till ... well I feel through." Admitting as she wasn't the brightest and didn't realize the difference as she hadn't seen a frozen over lake before. Now breathing a bit heavily as she winced and breathed out her breath heavy as she now began to close her eyes. "I'm sorry but I'm not really good understanding what things look like, I was blind in the real world so everything looks different and new to me. And I certain never lived in a place this cold before."

 

[Xion 0]

Xion chuckled when he heard this. "Tricky stuff Ice..." he said with a smile before the girl went on to explain that she was blind in the real world, the blonde raising an eyebrow at this. "Really? I didn't know that blind people could see in SAO...I guess it feeds information directly to the brain so it makes sense...gah...don't quote me, I'm more of a physicist myself. But anyway, how are you finding being able to see...it must be strange after a life of blindness..." the continued, walking through the gates to snowfrost, soon reaching the teleport gate. "Teleport: Town of beginnings!" he said before the two disappeared in a blue light, re-appearing in the town of beginnings, street lamps glowing dully as he looked around. "My shop isn't far from here...just a minute or two..." he said before setting off towards his forge. 

[Avilon 0]

She nodded shivering as she tried to be more cheerful despite the recent events. "I love sword ar online, but I also have lost a friend after meeting them just the first time." Laying within his arms as if she was a young child rubbing against a father or older brother. A soft mew now escaping her lips from the breathing. "Sorry for being so quiet, still trying to warm up. You really do t have to do all this for me." They then teleported her eye glancing about, the familiar feeling of being back on the first floor.

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled. "I have to...I wouldn't be much of a knight if I didn't..." he said before approaching his closed forge, opening the door before carrying the girl in. "Welcome to Casa del Xion..." he said with a chuckle before putting the girl down next to his forge, wandering off to get some flint and tinder from somewhere else in his shop. "Where is it...aha!" he exclaimed before striking the flint and lighting his forge. "It's the closest thing that I have to a fireplace...hopefully it'll warm you up..." the boy said with a sigh before sitting down next to her. 

[Avilon 0]

"It's such a nice little shop, do you use it often?"  She now sat upright huddling in front of his forge awaiting for the warmth to start. Hopefully it wouldn't take long as her body was still a bit numb even on the rather temperate first floor once again. She smiled and nodded now snuggling in closer to the forge as she gracious opened the trench coat to reveal rather baggy pajamas that she had the long sleeve shirt stretching down past her thighs thanks to the sheer size as that was the only thing she normally would wear to bed. "Thank you so much, I-I don't really know how to repay you I have a fair amount of col I suppose?"

[Xion 0]

"I don't use it too much...been out of the smithing business for ages, couldn't keep up with competition, no customers. I just live here..." he said with a smile as he looked at the girl, she looked cute in her oversized shirt, it reminded him a of a friend that he used to have on the other side...how far away those days seemed now. He laid back in his chair, hands behind his head as he rested, listening to the girl talking about payment. "You don't need to pay me...just keep on fighting and becoming stronger...we'll call that my payment" The tank said with a sigh as he closed his eyes, almost drifting off to sleep, the warmth of his forge was comforting. 

[Avilon 0]

"I'm not really a strong person though, I mean I'm trying my hardest to get stronger but everyone else seems to be surpassing in no time at all." She admitted now laying down and resting her head on the ground before the forge as she stared into the source of heat. As she lied there she began to curl up into her shirt more like a rolly-polly bug as she began to close her own eyes. Groaning ever so softly as she began to wiggle about on the floor within her t-shirt the pajama pants starting to build up static as they rubbed against the inside. In a matter of minutes she than began to sleep and her breathing escaped like small whimpers as she whinnied.

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled as he sat in his seat, on the verge of falling asleep as he heard Avilon stirring on the floor. The girl had curled up, like a hedgehog or a small insect. He smiled. "It's almost like...she's too small to be in this world..." he said to himself, slowly getting up and stretching his arms, preparing for something. "Sleeping on the floor won't do her any good...I'll let her use my bed, she's had a rough night..." he mumbled, picking the girl up gently and slowly carrying her upstairs into his bedroom, placing her underneath the duvet, for some reason, although he couldn't explain why...he felt...as though he needed to protect and care for the girl, it was a weird emotion, he usually wasn't one to feel like this, but for some reason, the girl just made him protective. "Sweet dreams...I guess..."

[Avilon 0]

Avilon laid against the floor mumbling softly to herself as she was then lifted up her head resting in against the cradle of his arm as she now was all rolled up. A soft voice speaking ever so gently as she slept, "Y-yes daddy I want a kitty. N-noo I don't mind puppies either. Or bunnies." She hummed rubbing her face deeper into Xion as she then was planted upon the bed like a seed in the soil. A shiver quaking through her body till she finally groaned happily rubbing about inside the bed she could feel it's warmth over her. An arm sliding out and weakly grabbing at the hand as she now rolled onto her back drooling ever so slightly.

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled as the girl mumbled something about wanting a kitty "The girl must be dreaming..." he said with a chuckle before her hand grabbed his, it was soft and delicate, pleasant to touch. The tank thought for a second, watching how peaceful the girl was. "If I move it'll probably upset her sleep..." he said before deciding that he would sit next to her, unequipping his armour, he placed himself next to her, wearing his starter clothes. "She's kind of cute..." he mumbled as he watched her drift further into sleep.