<PP-01> Shattered mind

[Jinx 0]

Jinx was, oddly happy. She knew, deep down, she didn’t deserve to be happy. She was the reason her friends were gone, the reason they no longer lived. And yet, despite that knowledge bearing down on her, Hydra, Peter, was making her happy. He was making her, want to keep on living. Live, for those who aren’t alive anymore, live, for herself.

The girl felt a shiver race through her, the cold water finally getting to her and she stood up and exited the small pond, sitting herself back down against the nearby rock. She accessed her inventory and pulled out the weapon she’d picked up at level 1, a Steel Sword. Nothing special. She took a deep breath, she had no idea how SAO worked. She didn’t know what the game mechanics would be like, but she had mastered an entire genre before, what was to say she couldn’t do it again?

“Hydra..” she said finally, remembering that she should give him the respect he deserved by calling him by his alias “I have…I have no idea where to go next, what I can do to…get better. I was, and still am, broken…I don’t know where I can, fix…”

[Hydra 0]

Hydra slowly clambered out the pool, allowing the water droplets to flow out his hair. "Hmm..." He paused and pondered for a moment, it was far too risky to take her on the redemption quest. He wasn't the type to normally protect someone as he didn't like to be demeaning, though this creature could potentially kill him and it wasn't right to rope others into his personal problems. "Once I have earned my salvation i'd like to return to the Town of Beginnings and grab something to eat, we could reunite there if you'd like. I''ll be a couple days at most and then we can do some adventures together."  He wore his usual naive smile at this point. For a moment he had considered asking her if she wanted to stay at his store on the second floor, yet the place was a mess and in the middle of nowhere. "I should probably avoid that..." Up above the trees whistled in the wind. Hydra breathed deeply and gazed up at the sky. "Oh here..." He opened up his interface and sent a friend request to Jinx. 

[Jinx 0]

The girl looked up from the blade she held in her arms up to him. He followed her out of the small pool of water and watched him with curious crimson eyes. What was he considering? She opted to silence as he said something about salvation, which she didn’t understand. But, he was to a degree, right. She should head back to the main town, keep herself as safe as possible. She was weak, and death could be waiting for her…As there was no way out of this game other than victory, as much as it pained her to admit.

“I’d…like to spend more time…” she said softly as she spotted the friend request. Out of instinct, her hand shot towards the ‘reject’ option, but she stopped herself. This wasn’t her old job, where she was spammed with thousands a day. This was a new world, and one where she…had to become someone else. Accepting Hydras request, she smiled at him, almost sadly “I guess…I’ll have to wait for you in the town?”