Everybody froze at the door to the boss room, Heathcliffe standing directly before it, giving the entire party a break in order to prepare themselves and their nerves for the other side of the door. Fitch found himself standing in the center of the crowd, as the others moved about, making sure their groups were all together and their equipment was battle-ready. He smiled tiredly as he spotted Kenshin consoling Alphard... They were such a fine pair; it was a wonder they weren't married yet, even in the game. "Are you sure you're okay?" A voice rang out near him and he shook his head, blinking.

"Of course," He said with a small nod as he looked at Yari, taking her hand. "Let's tell everybody at the party tonight," He suggested briskly.

The girl seemed entirely surprised at the suddenness of his proposal, "Oh... Uhm... W-well... Are you sure?" She asked, lowering her voice with a blush and a broad smile. "I mean... what about Suto?"

"I think it's worse not telling them... And... I want them to know..." He said positively.

Yari's face lit up as she nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Then we'll tell them..." A few moments passed like that, the two holding one another as Fitch took a deep breath and let it out. They were going to be okay. All of them. "I'm so happy..."

The sword-and-shield user smiled, finally shaking that terrible feeling he'd had only minutes ago, "Me too... I love you, Mizuki," He stated, embracing her for several more seconds.

She blushed and nodded into his shoulder, "I love you too..."

Finally, they parted - Fitch was to join the other shield users toward the front and Yari was going to join the rest of the squads which came in after a blocked attack and small groups that focused on minions. The doors opened to a new, ornate room - it seemed to be full of black marble, but it was lit to the perfect degree of vision. Fitch looked around, scanning the others in the room, but Yari was well-concealed amongst the drove of other players. He sighed and pulled up his shield, ready as the entire force charged in and took up their positions.

First came the skeletons; they were a fairly basic minion, but they would occupy a fair number of players and Kenshin and Alphard took off with one another, a team of two tearing through the beasts one by one. However, mere moments after the group had entered, two massive flames burst forth at the base of the stairs leading ot the next floor and showed an absolutely massive two-headed giant. It's mouths seemed far too large for the heads; it appeared slow and a bit challenged, but there was no way to dispute that it would be formidable. Fitch swallowed hard and braced himself as the command was issued and the entire front line bolted forward, only to be met with powerful stomp. They were all thrown back and stunned, rendering them useless for several moments - including Fitch - which left only a select few shield-users and heavily armored players to take the swipe of the giant's blade. It was already absolute chaos and two players had been killed from the initial slash. The front line recovered as quickly as the system would allow and had prepared to avoid any kind of knock-back attack again. The battle seemed to go smoothly for the first two of five health bars. The monster was incredibly powerful, but it seemed to be rather lacking in abilities - it wasn't very dynamic, so the party was easily gaining confidence with each sliver of health they stole.

"Switch!!" Heathcliffe called out as the monster was stunned by a combined block. Yari and Nero had both charged forward together, Nero unleashing a six-hit Sword Skill before Yari followed. Close behind her was a group of five more players ready to hit with everything they had. Just as she finished her three-hit skill, the third health bar vanished and the weapons of her comrades flashed. Nero was gone moments after his attack was finished and Yari was just about able to move away when the beat materialized a second weapon in his free hand - which had originally been used for his knock-back attack. It was a massive hammer which, even at the boss' great size, should have required two hands to use. It came from over his head and slammed into the ground; had it been waiting for such a concentrated force to come before it, or was it a result of the health bar dropping? The game was usually so fair... So it was merely coincidence that they had all moved in to attack at the same time as he gained the weapon... In fact, everything lined up so perfectly in its favour that four players would watch as their health turned from green to yellow and nearly red... Two of them would be thrown back by the Area of Effect from the pound and any who saw them would see the health drain straight to empty.

Fitch cried out and threw himself forward, only to be grabbed by something and thrown to the ground, narrowly avoiding a slash from the giant's blade. Nero quickly scrambled off of the boy whose life he had just saved, though Fitch hadn't truly realized it as he forced himself up and forward. He pivoted as his feet kicked up dust for a couple of short feet before he fell to his knees.

The moment before he had gotten to her, he had heard that sound... Crystals shimmered around him for a few moments as the essence of Yari vanished. His hands hit the ground as he fell forward in disbelief, crouched over that empty spot on the ground... Where had she gone? She was here moments ago... She had looked to him, her eyes filled with tears; yet, she smiled, as though everything would be okay. He shook his head as roars erupted around him and the boss fight continued, but he felt none of it... He was trapped in what seemed to be an endless void, clouded with nothingness. The giant had started to ignore the isolated shield-and-sword user whose damage-output had dropped to zero, giving him the bottom priority of everybody in the room.

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In a certain space of this post, I placed the song "Thousand Years" - Piano Guys' cover of it. It fit beautifully. This post is so meaningful to me because one of my friends had shown somebody at University this roleplay... and she actually cried when she read that post, I was a bit surprised, but it was nice to hear, I was very proud of it. It's also one of the most significant of the SAO-fandom based Roleplay because it causes Fitch, *my* main character, to absolutely lose his mind. It festers and he's currently becoming a murderous, easily manipulated fighter. He's ruthless and would murder his former best friend if he had any reason at all.

EDIT: This thread is a brilliant idea. <3