[SP-F1] Night Terrors (Complete)

[Azide 0]

The heavy doors slammed shut behind him, making his heart nearly straight out of his chest. Azide pivoted quickly on his heels and made a mad dash to the towering, and now sealed, gates. He banged on them relentlessly, hoping that his mere desperation might will them back open, but to no avail. For all of his efforts, all he could manage to produce was a spectacle, with low and hollow thuds greeting each swing of his fist.  "It's no use, guys," he called out, as sweat trickled freely down the side of his face. "It... just... won't... open..." He punctuated each word with a grunt and another slam of his body against the closed doors, slowing only when his hands throbbed and ached too deeply to carry on.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Azide

[Azide 0]

With escape seeming like a hopeless cause, Azide turned to face the others, his shoulders hunched over and his expression locked in a sullen frown. He looked as if he were a martian who had experienced the gravity of earth for the very first time. It was with deep regret that he looked over to the gathered clearing group; Mari, Daeron, Ryujin, Shark, Rebekah, and Crozeph. Their reactions differed wildly, so that he could not generalize the group as a singular entity. Instead, their expressions seemed to indicate several different camps.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Azide

[Azide 0]

In the first camp, he thought he could spot a certain confidence in the smirk-like smiles of Mari and Daeron. The two orange players seemed to be positively glowing with the revelation that there would be no reinforcements for this battle, nor any escape. From what he remembered, Mari had been quite confident in her own abilities- and indeed, it had taken a stupidly high amount of people to neutralize her as a threat. He could still remember the day where Mari had taken the life of yet another innocent player, and how off-balance she had appeared that on that day.

[Azide 0]

It had been unlike her, he had to admit, to lose her cool and dive headfirst into the deep end of crazy. In spite of the incriminating cursor which had hovered above her head, the Mari he had known had been somewhat level-headed, for the most part. Or perhaps he had simply grown to associate Mari the alchemist with Mari the player. Whereas the former had seemed quite stable, with a side of trademark irritability, the latter seemed to bend the rules of society at the drop of a hat. The second Mari had been dangerous, though he had never known her well enough to make a call on which of the two was more likely to show up on any given day.

[Azide 0]

Then there was Daeron, the so-called Insane Warrior. For all intents and purposes, he had never really understood the name, and had come to the conclusion that this had been one of Aincrad's many self-proclaimed titles. This dilution of monikers was the reason why he himself had decided to go without; one was free to waltz into the office and proclaim himself the boss, but to immediately be kicked to the curb in the moments that followed would require one to actually be the boss. Perhaps he had showed up too late to the game to understand the hidden meaning behind it, but Daeron had always appeared to be rather stable in the majority of their brief encounters.

[Azide 0]

After all, Daeron had been the primary force in subduing Mari on the day he had earlier alluded to; if anything, he seemed more deserving of the title Sane Warrior. And on the first occasion they had meant, he had seemed more or less like a normal guy, if not a little big-headed about his possession of the Solar Flux Jacket (or whatever he had called it). Still, big-headedness was within the realm of normality, provided one's head was not literally larger in the physical way. But that was admittedly not applicable in the case of Daeron.

[Azide 0]

Although to be fair, there had in fact been a single instance in which Daeron's sanity perhaps could have been called into question. The man had been on the verge of trying to commit suicide in-game (and in-turn, real life) by driving his own blade through his stomach, after failing to convince another player to do the deed for him. "How could I even forget?" wondered Azide. So the guy had one moment of insanity- it still wasn't something worthy of a such a dramatic title, in his opinion. So therefore, he felt as if this singular contradiction were more of an outlier than anything.

[Azide 0]

In any case, he could somewhat see the connection between these two individuals and their resulting reactions. These were people with something to prove- perhaps to others, but more likely to themselves. Beyond that, they were the sort that hid behind the hype of their own power. He couldn't claim to know this for a fact- but he was sure of it all the same. People like Mari and Daeron? They took refuge in their strength, hoping that it would blot out their multitude of flaws and misgivings. But on some level, they must have known that things would not be that easy.

[Azide 0]

In the second camp, neutral expressions lined the faces of Shark and Ryujin- two players with which he was scarcely familiar. In fact, he had not even received any words from the latter, and had really only exchanged but a simple greeting with the former. They'd been some of the eldest veterans around, as far as he'd been able to tell- their presence was an overall boost in his own personal morale. And yet, their poker faces seemed to betray nothing of their thoughts or feelings at the moment. Perhaps he was missing something, owing to a difficulty in reading the sentiments which lurked just beneath the surface of their stolid faces.

[Azide 0]

Finally, there were his own guildmates- Crozeph and Rebekah. Presumably the lowest leveled players in the room, aside from himself, he was not surprised to see shadows of fear and panic dance across their eyes and faces. Although the three of them had represented the bottom three in terms of level, Crozeph had the unenviable distinction as the lowest leveled player of them all- at least, within this party of elite clearers. The young man was certainly no slouch, but it could not be held against him if he happened to be afraid.

[Azide 0]

As for Rebekah, he admitted that her expression was more subdued than anything. The girl had a penchant for keeping her heart away from her sleeve, which had always made it a puzzle to tell what she was really feeling at any given moment. But after enough time, he had learned to better read the small things that did slip by, and so he could say with about sixty percent certainty that she must have been feeling at least a bit uncertain at the moment. Not that he could blame her.

[Azide 0]

Suddenly, tentacle-like arms reached out from the darkness and made a grab for each of them. Only when one of the curious appendages wrapped around his waist did he realize that these snaking arms were, in fact, literal snakes. With his blade at hand, Azide made a quick slash at the creature's slender body and severed the beast, dropping back to the ground with a thud as the entirety of the snake shattered into fine blue crystals. Just as he began to gather himself back to his feet, a sharp yank at his feet caused Quantum Slicer to fall out of his loosened grip. With no options left, he felt himself get dragged into the abyss as nondescript voices whispered into his ears.

[Azide 0]

Azide woke with a jolt, making several pages worth of notes fly into the air. He blinked slowly as his eyes began to adjust to the low light. He was at his desk, back at the lab. "I must have fallen asleep again," he realized, glancing around the room. So it had only been a dream. But of course it had- he had not been present for the battle against Yamato, nor was Yamato even a relevant factor in the equation; the tenth floor had been cleared during the months of his absence. So of course it couldn't have been real.

[Azide 0]

Even then, a low hiss from the corner of the room had been enough to make his skin feel clammy, he felt his whole body go numb. If somebody had managed to break into his shop at that very moment, he imagined that his current condition would be very similar to the paralyzed status. The sound had paralyzed him, not with the visual flare of yellow sparks, but with fear. He regained the feeling in his arms as the culprit slithered into the light, and he could see for himself that it had only been his own familiar. It was at times like this that he wondered if Lucifer might possess a sense of humor.

[Azide 0]

"You're going to be the death of me..." he mumbled, lowering his hand so that the creature could slither on up at its leisure. Before long, Lucifer had draped itself across his shoulders before deciding to settle down, perfect content to rest upon warming bedding. He recalled the cold bloodedness of reptiles, as well as stories of waking up to find snakes coiled up at the bottom of their boots, and decided that this was probably a likely explanation. He had to admit, he truly did appreciate the creature's company- then, and in every moment they had shared since its taming.

[Azide 0]

Still, he had to wonder... just how many of these dreams would he have to endure before he had repented enough? That was not to say that he had not earned all of this- Azide had never quite been able to fully shake off the guilt he'd taken on as a result of the Yamato situation. It was quite clear what his subconscious was hinting at, if one were to subscribe to that particular psychological theory. But at some point, he could only hope to again enjoy those peaceful, dreamless sleeps at a rate beyond intermittent.

[Azide 0]

With a groan, Azide rose out of his seat and took a step forward, but quickly found himself tumbling to the ground. As he opened his eyes, he realized that the numbness in his legs had not left him just yet, and cursed himself under his breath. Luckily, Lucifer had managed to escape any harm as a result of his stumble. With little to do but way, Azide rolled over onto his back, thankful that he had at least made a habit of keeping his floors hygienic and spotless. For a while, he stared at the ceiling while Lucifer slithered its way onto his chest, where it coiled up quite peacefully.

[Azide 0]

He wondered what the others were doing at this moment, but quickly decided that the answer was probably simple. Considering he himself had just woken up, and that it was likely the dead of night, he could only imagine that most of Aincrad was currently asleep. There was, after all, but a single time zone across all one hundred floors. But as he lay there helpless, restless and guilt-laden, he wished that Oikawa had still been around. Perhaps he would've messaged the light-haired boy and asked to spend the night, so that they might catch up on old times, and maybe even figure out a solution for his sleeping woes.

[Azide 0]

At the back of his mind, he had a vague idea that these nighttime terrors were becoming increasingly prevalent because of the quickly approaching boss raid; he could only hope that if this were true, that they would be eased by the time the deed had been finished. He had been hard at work over these past few weeks, and so there was nothing to regret of his more recent actions, no matter how bitter of a taste his previous ones had left to linger. Assuming that Mack would hand over his newly recently commissioned dagger any day now, he would be at peak condition by the time the clearing group had left on the way.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Azide

[Azide 0]

Despite all of his efforts, his legs had still refused to budge even an inch; he sighed, and closed his eyes, thinking of daggers and the like with only the sound of his own breathing to lull him to sleep. The floor was not the most ideal place for this sort of thing, but he supposed that it would have to make due for the night. In the meantime, he figured that his training with the dagger had been going quite well- in fact, at this rate, it would only be a matter of time before he had grandmastered it. That was something to look forward to...

Edited October 1, 2015 by Azide