[PP-F2-NK] (Ariel) I never really liked bees <<Return of the Queen>>

[Xion 0]

A gentle breeze blows through the second floor of Aincrad, the sky was it's usual shade of azure blue, and, as expected was close to cloudless, with only a few puffy white clouds drifting lazily across the sky, pushed by the artificial winds of Aincraid. That being said, everything was artificial; the gentle breeze, the viridian fields of grass, the comforting glow of the sun and the heat that it provided. All of this was artifiical, illusions created by the nervegear. This was the world that the players of SAO were trapped in, including Xion. The young tank was sitting at the base of one of the many trees within the forests of the second floor of Aincrad. He was wearing nothing but had black undergarments which he usually wore underneath his armour, a simple tunic and some trousers, his armour, all of his gear in fact was laid out in front of him neatly. His glaive and shield were next to each other, beside them laid his greaves, gauntlets, pauldrons, chest plate, and , quite possibly most importantly for him- His torn and tattered Half-cloak. The tank smiled as he looked upon the last object, it was one that carried a great amount of sentimental value, it was something that had marked him out as Seneschal of the crimson blades, back when the guild had been around almost two years ago. He had kept the same half cloak with him, although he no longer wore it with the pride that he once did, that was long gone, now he just wore it as a reminder of what had been, but was no longer. As the tank stared at the pieces of armour before him he tries to think of what they represented, both to him and to others. To others the armour represented a protector, a shield against the horrors of Aincrad. This, at the least, was what Xion thought people saw when they looked upon the armour. As for the tank himself, all he saw was broken promises and weakness, he had broken the promise that he made to the peopel of aincrad to protect them, and the one that he had made to himself to always strive to become stronger. Once again, he had failed. The player sighed, before equipping the items and setting off in the direction of a new field boss that he had heard of, glaive in hand. 

It was time, for the Crimson Aegis to make a return. 

@Ariel - The Crowned Lion 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Xion

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

Floor 2, just one above 'Noobville' as she liked to call the Starting City. "Remind me why am I wasting my time around here?" came a question that floated through the air, apparently adressed to no one in particular. But from behind her, a small growl could be hear. One that the blonde interpreted it as 'You know why!' and let out a sarcastic smile. "Yeah, you wanted to see this place again weren't you?" she paused to see if there were more complains and at the absence of them, continued: "You really liked that honey, from when we first did the quest." To this last statement, the white furred lion cub behind her simply cocked her neck as is asking 'Huh?'. Again, the blonde didn't need to turn around to check her familiar's confused reaction. 

Instead, she looked towards the lustful mountain area before them. The rivers running through the forest looked like silver veins across the green fields. A nice change of scenery from the rocky interior of the Urbus city. Usually the blonde would love this kind of place, admittedly that the lack of snow in the wintertime did get on her nerves quite a bit. But that was to be expected from someone that has spend all her times in the early game in the 'winter wonderland'. Also, today she wasn't here for sight seeing, which would explain the rapid tempo in her footsteps that forced Kimba to lightly job behind her. 

Their destination, the forest not so far away from the floor's main setlement where a certain area boss in her long backlog of unfinished quests. She would reunite with the queen bee and take her crown again. "Whoever thought about this wasn't very imaginative." thought the blonde as a number of other fantastic creatures came in mind, creatures that could replace the already defeated wasp. Thus in her walk towards the destination indicated in her map, she tried to pay little attention to her surroundings, until the job was done.

[Xion 0]

Xion walked towards the area that the quest had marked on his map, a large clearing within one of the many forests that could be found on the second floor of Aincrad. "It's just like the Queen...well I guess the fact that the quest was called 'Return of the Queen' was a big hint" The tank muttered to himself as he strode purposefully in the general direction of the clearing, his armour clanking metallicaly as he did, crushing blades of grass and flowers underfoot. Xion had quite a few memories attached to the second floor, not as many as the fourth admittedly, but still quite a few. The main one being defeating the original Queen, the tank couldn't remember if he had done it solo or not, it happened so long ago. 

 

After a while of walking Xion began to hear something. "Voices?" He muttered to himself, cocking his head slightly as he tried to work out where the sounds were coming from. He sped up slightly, a few of his greyish blonde locks falling in front of his eyes as he did, the half cloak that he wore over his left Pauldron billowed slightly, well, what was left of it billowed. He caught a glimpse of something, another player. They had blonde hair, and, as far as he could tell, it was a female player. "Have I met them before?" He asked himself, searching his mind for a face that might be attached to the body he saw. One did appear, one of a female front liner, although a name escaped him. "Maybe they are going after the quest too..." he muttered as he jogged a fair distance behind them, trying to keep them in sight which, admittedly, was a little hard with his restricted mobility due to the weight of his armour.