Silica would never have expected her knight in shining armour to be such a dark figure with an orange name. Yet here she was burying her face into the scary boy's chest as he explained a way to restore her beloved Pina to life. His arms were surprisingly warm as they gently hugged her back and his eyes seemed too soft for a murderer. She could only assume he wasn't and hope for the best. Anything else meant abandoning Pina.

"You'd really be happy for me to take you on a quest?" The boy (she couldn't see what his name was from this angle) asked sounding uncertain but hopeful.

Other players probably wouldn't go on quests with orange players as they were supposed to be bad though Silica could just tell this boy was nice. He was probably all alone until he saved her, how sad. Usually Silica had to beg other players to go on quests with her, as they all treated her like a kid even if she was twelve years old and that was a little annoying. This boy was already different from anyone else she'd ever met.

So she looked up at him with a bright smile on her face. "Of course, I don't think I'm strong enough on my own," the smile melted off her face, replaced with a frown. "Not without Pina."

"We will be able to resurrect your friend, I'm sure of it," the boy said reassuringly, letting go of her to stand at his full height.

He wasn't really that much taller than her and with such a soft expression on his face it was strange she'd even thought he was scary a minute ago. The orange cursor hovering over him was a little disconcerting though, and she wondered how he could have gotten it. "What's your name?" She asked instead however, knowing it was probably not right to ask about it when they'd only just met.

"I'm Kirito, and I will escort you to the 47th floor," he replied, holding out his hand.

She took his hand without any hesitation. "I'm Silica, thanks so much for this!"

Then he used a teleport crystal and the two of them disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Wow this place is covered in flowers!" Silica looked around at the new floor in awe.

It was like one huge garden with trees and flowers of all colours in every direction. A bright sun made everything look exciting and vibrant, a huge contrast to the gloomy forest back on the 35th floor. She could see players just lazing about, enjoying the nice weather and such a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. Many of the players seemed to be couples strangely, and Silica realised that she was still holding onto Kirito's hand.

"Yeah, this is one of the more popular floors, and many clearers like to come here when they want a day off," Kirito replied, not noticing her sudden discomfort. "But we need to get going before anyone notices us, I hope you're good at running," he added in a more serious tone.

Silica wondered what other players would do if they saw them. Nothing good, most likely. So she nodded, as she thought she had quite a good agility, which determined running speed. She really hoped they'd be fast enough to save Pina.

She wasn't prepared for her arm to be practically yanked off as Kirito put on a burst of speed; she couldn't even guess what his agility level might be! She ran as fast as she could though and Kirito must have slowed down enough so that he matched her speed. He still hadn't let go of her hand yet.

Ten minutes later they were standing (well she was sitting down) at the bottom of what Kirito called the Hill of memories. Silica took some deep breaths, exhausted by the run. Infuriatingly, Kirito didn't look particularly tired as he hadn't had to run at full speed like her! He seemed more comfortable now that he was away from the gardens filled with players; they were completely alone here.

"Well, ready to go and save Pina?" Kirito asked cheerfully.

Silica looked up, wishing the item could've been in a valley which required them to walk downhill rather than uphill but nevertheless nodded in determination. She missed her beautiful feathered dragon and didn't want to waste much time. So she slowly got up, taking a step forward.

"Yes! I'm sure that you'll be get me there," she said, following him up the side of the enormous grassy hill.

Kirito was silent for a moment but it was a peaceful sort of silence. Then he spoke up hesitantly: "why are you trusting me so much?"

Silica giggled, because with such a genuine and honest tone, it was probably impossible not to immediately trust him. "You saved my life earlier and now you're going out of your way to take me up this hill just to save my friend Pina, how could I not trust you?"

"Most people either run away from me or attack me on sight, I'm dangerous to be around," Kirito stated bluntly, as if in warning.

"I trust you to keep me safe," she said firmly though inwardly she did wonder why she trusted him after only a couple of hours.

She couldn't see his face whilst walking behind him but she thought he was smiling. "It'd be silly of me to try to persuade you otherwise then."

Before she could reply, the ground started to shake. Massive green vines erupted out of the ground and shot towards them like a whip. Silica gasped in surprise, bringing out a short sword, wondering how high level it was. Before she could do anything however, Kirito gracefully slashed them with his fearsome black sword, cutting the vines in half.

They continued to move around, like snakes but already Kirito was performing some sort of combo attack, cutting the vines into four then eight, then twenty before they abruptly shattered into a hundred blue polygons. His attacks had been both precise and quick. The encounter was over in less than minute.

"Wow, you're really good, are you a clearer?" She asked, thinking that maybe it was possible for the game to be beaten if people like him were on the front lines.

Kirito continued forward after briefly examining the ground for any item drops. "I'm a solo player and I'd probably be imprisoned if I showed my face at the front lines," he said gruffly, maybe a bit annoyed.

Maybe she had underestimated the amount of hatred orange players got but that was a surprise. Imprisoned just for appearing? No wonder he was so lonely. Silica decided that she could not abandon him no matter what, maybe if he was with her people wouldn't be so afraid of him? She wished she knew about red players; her current knowledge was evidently lacking.

"What do solo players do?" Silica then asked cautiously, worried she was upsetting him with all of her questions.

He didn't seem offended. "Anything. I fight monsters and dungeons on the top floors, so I suppose I'm trying to clear the game too," he said with a shrug.

Hadn't he just said he wasn't a clearer? Oh well, the finer distinctions were apparently lost on her, at least he didn't sound too unhappy. Kirito sounded pretty cool really, clearing the hardest dungeons by himself and Silica was starting to wonder if she could ever be that strong.

It took several hours for them to finally get to the top of the hill of memories and their journey had been surprisingly smooth, Silica had ended up fighting some fierce mobs alongside Kirito which proved to be a good learning experience as he had a lot of advice to give. She really liked the strange player though she remained really curious about his orange cursor.

She didn't ask about his past but began to notice how his eyes sometimes had a rather haunted expression when he looked at her though he tried to cover it up with smiles and laughter. Still it didn't go away, nor did the orange cursor, stuck permanently above his head and Silica realised she didn't know if there was any way to ever remove them. Maybe he had been stuck with the cursor for months?

At the top of the hill she saw a mound of dirt. A glowing mound of dirt actually. Before they could examine it more closely, for it was clearly what they'd come here for, another plant monster materialised right in front of them. Silica screamed in surprise, not used to things just appearing out of nowhere – usually it was only powerful mini-bosses and bosses who did that, at least on the middle floors.

Kirito chuckled beside her, apparently not very intimidated by a creature that was like triple his height and covered in thorns and vines. Its head was like a giant Venus fly trap that could easily swallow them whole though at least it didn't appear to have any eyes. Most worrying, to her anyway, was its big stocky legs that meant it wasn't rooted to the ground like many of the lesser monsters they'd fought today.

"You don't have to be shocked by every single encounter you know? You're strong enough to at least put up a fight," he said, taking an experimental swipe at one of its vines that had tried to subtly sneak around him. It quickly retreated but a dozen more vines were headed their way.

"I know but it appeared right in front of me! How was I supposed to act?" Silica retorted defensively. She jabbed at anything that came near her, waiting for Kirito to tell her the plan of attack.

"You distract it and then I'll switch in to attack, got it?" Kirito put on the serious voice he only seemed to use for fighting, or so Silica had observed on the climb up.

Silica nodded and ran forward, swinging her sword in wild arcs, being enough of a nuisance to the monster for it to completely ignore Kirito, a fatal error. It seemed particularly enraged when she somehow grazed its leg and it roared in her face, spitting out ugly purple seeds. She managed to deflect a couple with her sword but one got past her guard and hit her hard in the face, knocking her to the ground.

Vines immediately surrounded her and Silica wasn't sure how she would've recovered when the monster abruptly shattered into blue polygons. Looking up, it seemed Kirito had easily destroyed it as soon as she'd made an opportunity for him. The battle felt a little anticlimactic really, she had expected a bit more from a boss but they'd defeated it in a minute. Not that she was complaining!

Kirito's looked at her with an intense gaze. Silica felt herself blushing as those dark eyes examined her just lying on the ground and she hurriedly got up, adjusting her skirt self-consciously. "You're poisoned," he stated in a somewhat detached tone.

Silica looked at her status and frowned as she saw he was right, that seed must have been poisonous; she hadn't even thought to check something like that, with the amount of health she had most monsters understood that straight attacks would be all it took to defeat her. It was rather distressing to see her health being steadily whittled away by the status effect.

Apprehensively, she found an antidote in her inventory and drank it, hoping it would work though she didn't think she'd ever used one before. Still every experienced player recommended to carry around at least one antidote as a precaution and she was glad she'd listened to the advice as her status returned to normal. It was strange, battling so seriously; usually she was just playing the role of mascot and everyone she partied with would be extremely protective of her.

"The flower should bloom just over here, I think you'll just need to stand in front of it," Kirito said, gesturing over to the glowing mound of dirt. He didn't see any need to ask if she was alright like her fans and admirers would, but then he wasn't exactly the social type .

"Wow…" Silica gasped as in front of her a glowing sphere of light grew into the shape of a beautiful white flower that seemed to be sparkling in the evening sunlight.

She glanced over to Kirito who also looked impressed by the display. "Well go on and pick it then, we will revive Pina as soon as we get to the bottom of the hill," he said encouragingly.

Silica delicately picked the lovely item which then went into her inventory, they had done it! She sighed in relief for they still had more than a day to revive her friend. The two of them descended the mountain together, both in high spirits from such a great success.

No monsters intercepted them on the way and it was a pleasant walk, surrounded by flowers as they were. Silica had rarely felt content as she did whilst walking down in silence; this day had been wonderful. Kirito seemed to be enjoying himself as well, used to silences from working alone.

"Hey Kirito?" She asked him after a while. "Why did you take me on this quest as I know you didn't have to?" The question had been buzzing in her head for a while.

Kirito's response only came after a thoughtful pause. "You were thankful after I'd helped and you didn't immediately begin to hate me, it's nice."

Silica smiled, though a little bitterly; she couldn't begin to imagine what he had to go through to be this way. He genuinely seemed to be happy today but that didn't mean she hadn't noticed those haunted looks which crossed his face when he was brooding. Silica desperately wanted to help him; she hadn't helped anyone very much even after a year. The people who wanted her to join them only after her superficial image. He appreciated her and she hadn't known how much she'd wanted that until now.

As she was lost in her thoughts, Kirito suddenly yelled at the trees ahead of them. "Show yourselves! I know you're there!" Silica didn't seen anything but stopped, looking around cautiously.

A great laughter erupted from the trees in front of them. Out of the trees walked none other than Rosalia whom had first gotten her into the position where she needed rescuing. If it hadn't been for her, Silica wondered if she would've met Kirito. The attractive red-haired girl walked forward with a smirk on her face.

"Very impressive boy, it seems you've somehow succeeded in getting her to trust you," Rosalia said, looking directly at Silica. "You can drop the charade now however, we'd appreciate a share in the spoils if you wouldn't mind."

"Stay right here," Kirito murmured to her comfortingly, walking forward with an unreadable posture. Were they his friends?

"You're Rosalia, leader of the Titan's hand – a red guild?" Kirito asked in a tone that indicated he already knew the answer.

Sneering at him she answered rather disparagingly: "Were you looking to join? Hand the girl over and I'll definitely consider though you don't look like much." Around her, other members of her guild appeared from their hiding spots behind trees and she couldn't help but notice that they all had orange cursors.

"I'm going to send you all to prison so I suggest you surrender quietly," Kirito announced bluntly, taking out his black long sword.

There was a momentary pause as the players didn't know how to react to what they perceived as a very foolhardy statement. After all, there were seven of them against just him and Silica, who was staying back as asked. Then they all starting laughing at his serious statement.

"Is that so boy? Well then, we'll just have to kill you – and the girl!" Rosalia ordered her men forward and they all surrounded Kirito, slashing at him with their swords.

Oddly, Kirito just stood there, letting them attack without even a token effort of defence as he slowly died. Silica watched him in horror, wishing she could do something to help him, it was her fault he was here in the first place. But then Silica noticed his health was still high and it seemed to be regenerating even as they attacked him. How was he doing that?

"What the…?" One of the men grunted, looking at his full health bar in confusion.

"I regenerate 400hp every ten seconds and you do 42 damage per second on average. We could stand here all day and you'd never get anywhere," Kirito said, looking in amusement at each of the players in turn.

Rosalia stared at him in horror. "That can't be possible!"

"I think you'll find that games with levelling systems can be very unfair once you're high enough level. Now there's a bounty on your head so I suggest you surrender right now," Kirito threatened again, only this time the players backed down, he seemed intimidating now.

"I'm a green player, unlike you! Why should I have to go to prison?" Rosalia spat, venomously.

Kirito's form blurred when he moved at an astonishing speed and suddenly his sword was at her neck and she was completely defenceless; Kirito completely outclassed the entire guild. "Ten days ago, you and you're guild slaughtered an entire party, save for the leader. Once I heard about it I came to track you down so I could send you to prison myself."

"And how many have you killed you hypocrite? Surely you see that this is just a game, we can't really die," she roared at him, fearfully. Silica didn't think she believed her own words.

Killed? Had Kirito really killed anyone? Silica didn't know what the requirements were for an orange name but she knew they couldn't be good; yet Kirito was a good person, of that she had to be certain.

"Before Kayaba made his announcement I'd already killed five players… I thought it was a game until then and I couldn't take back what I had done," he admitted solemnly.

Silica listened in horror, wondering why he was even sharing such a tale to these cruel players who were here to steal and hurt them just because they could. Or was he saying it for her benefit, so she could understand why he had an orange name? Silica hadn't needed to know, she trusted him without knowing anything about his past but now that she did, she just felt sad. He'd hurt some people in a game and then they'd been killed in real life. What a tragic thing and one he wouldn't be able to forget if a reminder was constantly hovering over his head for everyone to see.

The members of the Titan's guild were all sent to prison. The two of them were alone once again until two magical objects met. A dazzling light and her beloved Pina materialised in front of her, completely whole. The quest had been a complete success.

Despite hugging the beautiful feathered dragon, stroking the soft feathers delicately, Silica didn't feel completely happy. Pina was many things, and he was a creature she dearly loved but he would never be a person. Today a person had made a very deep impression on her, in some ways it was more important than even Pina. Now, seeing Kirito staring into space she could see how he was very close to breaking. He appeared very strong on the surface but inside, it was like he couldn't hold himself together.

So even as she hugged dearest Pina to her chest, she was looking at Kirito. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened because it's not your fault," she said, determined. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

His dark eyes focused on her. "I may have done it unknowingly but it doesn't change the outcome, does it?" He replied, and Silica could tell he'd thought long and hard over it.

It was distressing to see him revealing the pain he'd seemingly buried. "But it's all Kayaba's fault, he must know what he's doing and yet he's still keeping us all trapped here," Silica protested, her thoughts drifting to the family she'd left behind over a year ago.

"Thanks Silica but I know I'm at least partially responsible, if it wasn't for me then they may still be alive, Kayaba was fair like that," Kirito looked away from her.

This wasn't right, he was her knight in shining armour who had saved her life and helped to revive Pina before saving her again. Silica leaned over to him, Pina immediately climbing onto her head, and she grabbed his hand. "If it wasn't for you, me and Pina wouldn't be here! I still need to thank you for saving us!"

Kirito looked down at the hand she'd just grabbed, looking thoughtful. "There's no need to thank me," he said though he did sound slightly pleased by her words. "It's probably best if we never see each other again really but I'm glad I helped you."

"No!" Silica protested loudly. "I want to stay with you, I don't want you to leave." Her voice sounded weak suddenly, as she thought about never seeing him again.

Kirito leaned forward and hugged her gently. "Silica, you seem like a really popular player and I would ruin all that, I am a solo player who is feared by everyone," he said bluntly. Was he trying to say goodbye?

"I don't care about my fans, they've never treated me seriously, and I would be so much happier travelling with you, so please let me and Pina come with you!" Her tone had taken on a desperate edge but the alternative was Kirito leaving forever.

And Kirito was hesitating because he didn't know how to deny her and he didn't really want to deny her. "But I might not be able to protect you, wouldn't you be safer-?"

"I nearly died until you saved me! I trust you to protect me, you already have," Silica cut in sharply, breaking apart his protest before it could fully form.

"But won't you miss living in town? I live in the wilderness and it's not very luxurious," Kirito argued instead.

"If you can bear it than so can I, besides if I really did hate it then I could always just leave," Silica said confident that Kirito would have to concede the point.

Kirito paused for just a few moments, silently stroking her hair, for he was still holding her and Silica was still holding onto to his hand. "You're only level 45, I'm 30 levels higher than you, you'll need to make up that difference," he said, his voice now had a pragmatic, practical tone that couldn't be ignored.

That was certainly a lot of levels but she had to try right? Kirito couldn't possibly have any obligations to the front lines if he was a solo player so he wouldn't mind being slowed down too much, would he? His advice when they'd been fighting monsters earlier had been extremely useful and she thought he'd be a great teacher.

"If I get stronger, maybe you could talk to the other players in the front lines," Silica suddenly suggested as a flash of information came to her.

"Eh?"

"Maybe if I'm with you they won't try to attack you and then you'll be able to help them?" She explained nervously, for it had sounded better in her head.

He finally let go of her and absently stroked Pina instead. "I'd love to participate in boss battles again, I actually fought the fifth floor boss before everyone realised what orange cursors meant and were no longer able to tolerate me," Kirito said, surprisingly agreeable to her odd suggestion.

"So, may I come with you then?"

"I'd really like that."

Just a one-shot idea I had though I wouldn't mind expanding on it a little if there's any interest, I rather like Silica. The main motivation of this story was the idea of being stuck as a red player for the entire game. I'd like to think that Silica would be open-minded enough to get to know him, even if no other character would.

Thanks for reading anyway, and please do leave a review as I'm not sure if I put in enough detail or got the characterization right. Tell me if you'd interested in reading a continuation or an expansion of this premise.