Hey! So I know I said I was taking a break until at least after New Years, but I just sort of had to write this. This is a huge deviation from my normal writing subject but hopefully it won't crash and burn spectacularly. This story isn't going to be updated as much as my main story, but you can rest assured that it will be reliably updated! Hope you enjoy!

A Second Chance

"Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas"

It was dark; darker than any night had even been.

It enveloped her entirely. She was part of the obsidian blackness that surrounded her. She could not move, her arms and legs were no longer present. She didn't mind though. She wouldn't need them where she was now.

She no longer needed to fight. She was finally free. Free of the disease that captured her and her family in it's merciless grip, ripping their lives away one by one, leaving behind what could have been limitless potential. All because of a mistake. She had been the last one in line. Her parents, her sister, and now finally her.

'So... This is what it's like to be dead?...' She thought to herself, a small amount of relief washing through her as she realized how warm it felt. How comfortable and content she was. 'It's... Calmer than I expected...'

"Wake up..."

'Huh?... What... Who just spoke?...' She asked herself. Just a moment later a small pinprick of soft light entered what she assumed was her vision. Did she even have eyes anymore? Probably not.

"Can you hear me little one?" The soft white light spoke in a voice that almost immediately brought Yuuki comfort. It was authoritative, Yuuki could say thwt without a doubt in her mind, yet it also brought her warmth and comfort. Whoever, or whatever, this light was she felt it's benevolent intentions, whatever they happened to be.

'I'm awake... I can hear you...' She thought, hoping that the soft white light would somehow hear her thoughts. 'But... Why can't I speak?...'

"You have no mouth from which to project your voice..." The white light answered simply, confirming Yuuki's suspicions. 'You are an ethereal being now. You no longer posses a body."

'Um... Ok. That makes sense... But how can You hear me?' She asked, genuinely interested as to how this strange realm worked.

"It matters little. It would take much too long to explain."

'Well I've kinda got all of eternity sooo-...' Yuuki was cut off as the white light suddenly grew more intense, nearly overtaking her field of view in it's blinding aura of light. Her first instinct told her to look away, yet she knew that such an action would be impossible. 'Alright, alright! Sorry! You could just tell me to shut up ya know!'

Thankfully, after what felt like only a few moments of intense light, the bright light began to fade away, until it was once again no larger than a small marble, surrounded by the darkness of the infinite void. "While crude, your comment brings me to my point, and my proposition."

'Proposition?' Yuuki asked, her tone a little more sarcastic than intended, though with the influx of information she was currently receiving, along with the impromptu blinding session, she hoped the white light would give her a pass of sorts.

"Yes... I am aware of exactly how you died. But I am also aware of the connections and friends you have made, and were forced to leave behind, in your last few weeks on Earth."

Yuuki felt a pang of sadness at the mention of her friends, especially those she had only made after she had been confined to her MediCuboid. 'What does this have to do with-...'

"I'm getting to that. Have patience." There was a pause as the white light softly pulsed, as if considering it's next words to the young swordswoman, before it continued. "What if you were given a second chance? What if I told you that you could be sent back?"

'What?!' She practically shrieked in her mind, though she was sure she would have yelled as loudly as possible if she could.

"Yes. I can send you back at this very moment." The white light clarified, before the voice grew soft, losing it's authoritative tone. "You fought harder to combat your ailment than anyone I've ever encountered previously. I feel you deserve such a reward; it is only fair."

'But... But how?! My body is probably in the ground by now!' Yuuki explained, panic sprinkled in her voice.

"This is true."

'And it's nearly useless!' She continued, the panic only deepening as she thought about what could possibly happen if she were to be sent back to her old, no doubt rotting, body. Finally her panic deteriorated into sadness. 'My AIDS destroyed it, I couldn't even use it if you brought me back.'

"Also true." The voice agreed, though it remained completely neutral. "Your earthly body has been almost completely eliminated by the disease, and what remains will soon be claimed by nature."

Yuuki wanted to sigh. Was this voice really an omnipresent as she had previously assumed? If it could bring her back to life, how could not take into account her body's elimination by AIDS and dirt? 'So then how-...'

"But I know a body of yours that hasn't been destroyed..." The voice hinted not so cryptically, knowing that Yuuki would catch on in only moments.

'My... ALfheim Online body?...' Yuuki realized with a start. Could this voice honestly be implying what she thought it was? If that was the case then maybe she could finally have a normal life again... Or a life at all as a matter of fact. She was rather lacking in both departments.

"Precisely. I can create a new earthly body for you, an exact copy of your virtual persona. Without your previous afflictions of course." The voice explained with what Yuuki assumed was a sad attempt at a humorous tone. "That would be rather counter productive."

'I don't understand... Why are you doing all this?...' Yuuki asked after an uncomfortably long silence, her thought filled with uncertainty and apprehension. 'Do you want something from me? Is that it?'

"Not at all. It's as I stated previously... You fought harder than anyone I've ever seen..." The voice reassured in a calm voice that echoed lightly as it uttered it's next words. "You deserve to have your life back..."

'Alright... Well I mean... How do I go back, do I have to say some magic words? Because that'll be hard without a mouth.' She said, attempting to formulate an image of her avatar making sly smirk in her minds eye, hoping the strange light would see it.

"...No." The voice said flatly. Clearly he had seen it clear as crystal. "Just leave that to me."

Yuuki soon began to feel herself fade away once more.

The darkness quickly encroached upon her every sense, the soft light that had been a beacon of comfort began to fade from her sight, shrinking from the size of a marble, to no more than a grain of sand before disappearing completely, ripping away her conscious state along with it.

'...Thank you...'

Drip.

The sudden impact of a single drop of water against Yuuki's face was the first thing to jolt her into consciousness. As it ran slowly down her cheek, the young woman's face began to twitch as she was ripped from her sleepy state.

"...Wha?..." She groaned, cautiously prying her eyes open to come into view of treetops staring down at her, towering over her like giants encircling an ant. With a small twitch of her hand she rubbed the surface of her skin against whatever she was laying upon.

Her breath nearly stopped when she realized that it was not the soft yet overly clean surface of a hospital bed, but instead a small crude wooden bench, which she was sprawled out on, that sat in a small clearing which sat on a hill.

Finally taking the time to absorb her surroundings, the swordswoman loudly gasped as she realized she truly was not in the hospital in which she had spent years, but in a large park with people happily running around and playing around her, seemingly uninterested in the sickly looking girl laying on the bench.

Continuing to scan the park, Yuuki finally turned her gaze upon a family and a child who was excitedly playing frisbee with his parents, causing Yuuki to crack a small smile as she observed the family.

"Man I've heard of cosplayers, but that girl takes it to the next level..." A strange voice suddenly exclaimed. When Yuuki located the source of the noise she found two high school aged guys looking over at her as they strolled by, their eyes only leaving her when they finally realized she was looking back.

Oh well, at least they were showing a semi proper reaction to the sight of a sickly cripple on a park bench.

Deciding it would be more trouble than it was worth to be annoyed with the two of them, Yuuki eventually deciding against it, opting instead to contemplate how exactly she was going to get herself back to the hospital.

Eventually she realized that if she ever wanted to leave the bench she was laying on she would just have to brace herself and sit up, however, upon finally tensing her muscles and forcing herself up into a sitting position, she found that not only was she able to do it effortlessly, but that there was also no pain either.

As she continued to glance over herself, her head held high, Yuuki nearly jumped back when she noticed that her hair was no longer the thin short brown locks that normally populated her scalp, but instead the long flowing purple and hair of her ALfhiem online avatar.

She slowly turned her attention to her legs, still half expecting to find the useless limbs that should have been there, only to see they were completely healthy. As if they had never been attacked by the virus that ripped her life away. Not a patch of skin was discolored or appeared weak.

Taking in a large breath into her lungs, the swordswoman stuck her hand out and pinched her own leg lightly, jumping when a small amount of pain shot up from where she pinched herself.

She wasn't dreaming. Not at all.

"Oh... Oh my God... This... Isn't a dream?..." She stuttered as she looked down at her shaking gloved hands. They were those of her avatar. Of herself. "It really worked! I'm really here!..."

She immediately hopped off of the bench with renewed confidence in her legs and began sprinting through the walkways of the park, squealing in delight as she did, completely uninterested in those who gave her strange stares as she ran by them.

She occasionally waved at a few people who took the time to give her a smile, but Yuuki was mostly caught up in what lay before her.

Somehow that light that Yuuki had met had somehow kept its promise. She was back in the world of the living. Back in the real world, with a body what was as good as new, without the damning effect of that damnable disease to hinder her.

Suddenly her high speed run slowly descended into no more than a jog before Yuuki stopped entirely. In her haste she had forgotten something major.

Now that she was alive and healthy, what exactly was she supposed to do with her time? And where was she supposed to stay?

Then it occurred to her. She had made quite a few friends in the last few months of her life. Perhaps one of them could offer her refuge until she was able to somehow procure herself a more stable living situation? She would have to somehow find a job so that she was not a complete burden to them of course, but that could wait until she knew where she would be staying.

She hardly knew the real world any longer, and finding her friends would have normally been a nearly impossible task. Thankfully Asuna had let Yuuki participate in her class by way of camera and speaker before the latter had died. She at least knew where the school was. All she had to do was make her way to the school and she would no doubt find at least one of her friends around.

She then glanced down at her new body. It was covered in her ALfhiem Online armor, minus her black sword which normally hung from her hip. She probably looked completely outlandish.

She let out a sigh when she realized this. No wonder those two boys had been making cosplayer jokes at her expense. It was far from a huge issue, but she would most likely be stuck in the armor until she could get herself some new clothing.

Deciding that standing around like a giant moping dork was doing her little good, Yuuki took a deep breath into her now healthy lungs and broke out into her sprint once more, making a beeline out of the park with the school as her destination.

As she ran the images of her family fluttered through her minds eye. The smiling faces of her mother and father, and the loving warm gaze of her older sister. They were gone, she could never change that. But there was one thing she could do. Something she knew her sister would have wanted. "Don't worry sis! I'll live my life to the fullest, for both of us! I promise, I'll make you proud!"

And with that she set off in search of her friends, and whatever future that lay in store for the Absolute Sword.

Thanks for reading! Updates will be out soon!