A New Game

by EhxSomeGuy

Once a game that helped them forget their past, players are trapped in ALO. How will they survive a second death game? Maybe with the help of new friends, and maybe not thanks to new enemies. Maybe just with each other.

1. Chapter 1, Parts 1&2

A/N: First fan fiction, tell me any suggestions. This is a free write, no planed story so ideas are encouraged. Enjoy! (There is a cross-over of a couple Original Characters, but not a Full cross-Over)

Prolog:

As all the players of ALfheim Online stood in the City in the Tree, Yggdrasil, silence took them over. It happened again. How? How did someone take control? The new version of the AmuSphere should've prevented this. But standing before everyone, the one person who could cast away all the happiness these carefree fairies felt not hours ago, was the self-proclaimed Oberon, The Fairy King. Sugou.

Chapter 1, Part 1: The Hell of Our Past Selves

[4 Hours Prior]

3rd P.O.V~

'Is it the weather? No. Is it the people I'm with? No.' Kirito thought as he and his 5 friends, sister, in-game wife, and daughter soared through the air. For some reason, Kirito was more happy then normal. He tried to figure it out, but he just couldn't tell what it was.

Kirito and company had just finished a quest for the day, which none tried hard to remember considering the dull payout and boring mission. They were flying to New Aincrad's 22nd floor to hang out at Kirito and Asuna's home. It was starting to get late into the day, but with it being Summer for the students of the group and slow work for Agil and Klein, they had decided to play late.

'Hmm, maybe it's just that everything has been... Uneventful. Wait, why would I be happy about that?' Kirito thought as he let his hand fall to touch the clouds with his fingertips. 'Maybe a nap? Yeah, that sounds good. Oh, and food, food is good too- wait! I'm way of track'. As Kirito continued to let his mind wonder, he blocked out the blacksmith yelling at him.

"Hey, Kirito! You lazy freak are you even paying attention?!"

"Hm?" Kirito was pulled to reality just in time to see what was happening. While being spaced put, they had all flown to Aincrad's first floor, but Kirito only flew face-first into a large building at the edge of the Town of Beginnings.

"Why?" Kirito asked the game-gods, trying to blame someone other then himself for his failure. His wings timed out and he fell 20ft and his body found the ground quickly.

"I'm just going...to..lay down..." He managed to breath out before closing his eyes and laying down.

"Daddy! This is no time for sleeping!" A small Pixie yelled at him after landing on his head. The rest of the group gently landed on the ground next to him.

"Well, the Warp Gates aren't far from here, this should do" The large chocolate skinned Axe-Weilder said after picking up Kirito and slinging him over his shoulder.

"Isn't he just over-exaggerating, just a little but?" The small Cait Sith known at Silica quietly said while holding her bright blue dragon, Pina.

"Don't worry, he just can't party tonight!" Liz said while bouncing along the street with the rest of her friends. Kirito seemed to open one eye to the statement, but, before retaliating to the comment, was very quickly shot down after his girlfriend hit his head back down, knocking him clean out.

"Don't act hurt and try to react when someone brings up a party Kirito-Kun!" The blue haired Undine said while walking with her arms crossed, an annoyed look crossing her face.

"Yeah, daddy!" Yui quickly shared the same look as her mother, while sitting on Asuna's shoulder.

Kirito's cousin/ little sister walked slightly behind the rest chatting with Sinon, the aqua-haired archer/ Cait Sith, about how they were glad they had already finished the 30 floors that were currently out in New Aincrad.

The whole grouped walked for another while until they finally arrived at Asuna and Kirito's home on the 22nd floor of New Aincrad. With the sun setting behind them, they entered the home one by one (not including Kirito who had fallen asleep by this point over Agil's uncomfortable shoulder, hoping to avoid the wrath of his girlfriend). Kirito has set down (dropped) on the floor, the only people seeming to notice being Suguha, Sinon, and Silica. But they quickly ignored him to talk to everyone in the living room of the home. They continued to talk about the real world and in-game adventures for what seemed like hours. Happy. They were happy. Even when Kirito woke up after a decent 2 hours, they kept on talking, laughing, telling stories, and just being alive.

'Maybe this was it?' Kirito thought to himself as he laid on the floor, listening to his friends. He checked his menu for the time. 10 P.M. They had been doing this for almost 3 hours, not including the hour to get to the house. 'Gotta make sure we don't all stay logged in too late' Kirito thought.

*Clang*

"A bell?" Asuna asked confused

"Maybe an event?" Liz shrugged it off, drinking the tea that had been brought out for everyone.

*Clang*

"Well, it's not a glitch or a bug." Stated Suguha, also drinking her tea.

Nostalgia washed over everyone (except Sinon and Suguha) as the bell continues to toll. It rang for a minute straight, then they were all overtaken by a blue light. They all heard their cups smash on the floor as they were teleported out of the house.

"What the-" Klein was cut of while yelling.

*Clang*

"-hell!"

They all looked around. Where were they? How did they get they. They all asked themselves questions, but none found answers. More and more players were teleported to their location, which was were exactly? They all started to realize that they were at the City in the Sky, Yggdrasil.

"What's going on?"

"Hey, I was on a quest!"

Shouts and complains could be heard all around, but only one stood out.

"Who the hell is that!?"

Kirito and his friends all looked up to see a man flying in the sky. He hovered atleast 100ft above everyone with full, white feathered wings. His face was shadowed, but his green and gold robes were easily seen, along with his bright gold crown.

"Hello, I'm going to say that most of you are confused right now, yes?"

No one replied, no one wanting to dignify his with an answer.

"This summer, the new AmuSphere Version 3 came out, which was mandatory to play ALfheim Online. This new device is currently being used to guaranty that all of the 20,000+ players currently online stay logged into ALfheim Online. This device, is essentially a NerveGear Revamped to work much more fluently and contain much more data. Along with that.." -The figure pulled up a menu and a large menu screen appeared in the sky, showing what he was doing to everyone else. He put in a series of commands, and a warning appeared, flashing red over the screen- "...it is now keeping everyone in the game" All of the SAO survivors quickly pulled up there menus, hands flying to the log out button. What they saw made there nightmares come back. Or what they didn't see. The log out button... It wasn't there. Kirito quickly pulled his group close, keeping away from the progressively more agitated players. All of his friends stared at the Man in the Sky in disbelief. Asuna held onto Kirito's hand tightly, but Kirito couldn't help but think of all those years ago. He couldn't help but think of the hell they all endured. A deep voice spoke up again. It was they man who gave Kirito the urge to fly up to him and stab him down. But his wings weren't working, no ones were.

"Do not panic, this is now no longer just a game, this is my world. If you're HP hits Zero here, your brain will be destroyed in the Other World, killing you. The only way to leave this world, is by beating all 100 floors of New Aincrad, which I have now released." The man, or monster if you prefer, hit a button on his menu, and the large screen produced, in green solid letters, the words {Map Updated}. " As people log on, they too will be trapped with you, though the news is spreading quickly already as I have stated all of this in the 'Other World' (why was he not just saying the real world? Yui thought.) before coming and telling all of you. This is a declaration by Your very own Fairy King, Oberon!"

Oberon then lifted his head, causing the shadow that covered is face to leave. It was clear after seeing his right, distraught red eye who this sadistic monster was.

"SUGOU! YOU BASTARD!" Kirito and Asuna screamed in Unison.

The rest of the crown was silent. Oberon looked at the pair, the smile he had just been wearing grew to an unrealistic size. He then exclaimed to the crowed of people. (never breaking eye contact with the two)"Welcome to My World!" Blue lights consumed everyone in the city, and they quickly realized they had all been teleported to their original locations.

[Kirito and Asuna's living room]

Kirito's P.O.V~

Silence. No one spoke. None of the 9 of us had the ability to. So we did what we needed to. We thought. It felt like years of silence, sadness, dread, sorrow, pain, it all washed over us.

Trapped.

We were trapped. We understood and, though it hurt, we believed it. Why? Because we were forced to believe it almost 4 years ago. She spoke first.

"You all did this once, right?" The voice that pierced the silence belonged to my little sister. "What do we need to do first?" The blonde Sylph stood up, hitting her fist downward into her stomach-high palm.

'How is she taking this so well?' I thought. 'Wait, no one...no one is freaking out in here. Are we...are we all ok with this?'

"Calm." That voice. That was the voice of the former Sub-Commander of the KoB. Not Asuna. The "Flash"

"We need to be calm. That takes priority" she continued. As she spoke, Liz walked over to Silica, we was about to crush Pina, and wrapped her arms around her. We all sat, thinking of what to do.

"You guys don't think he's serious, do you?" Klein asked. No one answered, we already understood what had happened. Asuna tried to speak up, but Yui shouted something that made everyone shutter in our seats.

"413 players just joined at once"

"What!" Who's voice was that, it took a minute to realize it was my own.

"413 players! Why the hell are they joining!?" No one answered me, but it was because no one knew this time.

"Yui, how many players were online when the bad man gave us the message?" Asuna asked, trying no to upset her daughter (she sometimes forgot her daughter was an extremely advanced A.I, not an actual child).

"20,253." Yui replied, thinking hard"

Asuna gulped "And..and how many now?"

"19,985, not including the new 413." Yui said, then she laid in her mother's arms.

'268 people. That's how many have left this world already. This isn't real, right?' Silence crawled back, but Sinon blurted out something before it could take over.

"Wait, why didn't you count I'm the new players?" She asked puzzled toward Yui.

"The extra 413 players are from a different server, there data seems to be switching still."

"But, ALO is all one server." Agil lifted his head, speaking in a stern yet confused voice.

"The format data is different from that of normal ALO servers." Yui calmly stated.

"Maybe we should talk about something else." Sinon said, noticing Silica starting to shake and curl up. I started to speak up.

"Let's all rest for the night, it's already 11. We should talk in the morning. You can all stay here for the night if you want." I looked over to Asuna, who's hand was rubbing the back of Sugu, and received a slow nod of approval.

"I think I'll take up on that offer." Klein stated, heading over to the kitchen and getting out a wine bottle. Slowly everyone agreed to stay the night. It was late, so we all decided to just continue this talk tomorrow, and went to find a place to sleep. Asuna, Yui, and I took the main room obviously, and everyone else split between extra rooms, couches, and floors (atleast for Klein). Though we all went to try to sleep, I doubt anyone truly slept that night. That night, that was the first night back in Hell.

Chapter 1, Part 2: The Collision of Two Worlds

[Sometime in the night]

3rd P.O.V~

'It's ok...It's ok' Silica laid on a couch near the front door. The young Cait Sith was next to her best friend, the pink hair leprechaun Liz, and she was currently trying to make herself not freak out.

*tap*

A light noise hit the front door. 'It was nothing' Silica thought as she curled up to other best friend, Pina.

*Tap*

'Ok, that may have been louder, maybe a tree fell!'

*Knock*

"Liz...Liz" The young girl tried to get her friends attention, but was met by silence.

*SLAM*

The whole house woke up with that one (atleast it woke the few who had managed to get sleep). Everyone rushed to the door, equipment on and weapons drawn. Kirito stepped up to the door, and slowly turned the doorknob. Once he opened it all the way, nothing was to be seen.

*Knock* Something hit the fully opened door, causing the party to look down to find a girl laying on the ground.

"Please...please let me in" the young girl asked in a frail voice. Asuna and Sinon rushed forward, picking up the girl and bringing her inside. No one argued. No one questioned it, they just each found something to help. The girl was placed on the guest bed Agil was sleeping on, since he couldn't fit on the couches. Kirito noticed scratches and bruises all on her. Not red digital ones that heal, real ones. They gave the small girl water. From what he could make out, Kirito saw she had brunet hair that went just below her shoulders, though right now the hair was very mangy and messed up. They all went to there respected rooms, and Agil offered to keep watch over night, considering he couldn't use his bed now.

'What just happened?' Suguha thought. It had all happened so fast. The day flew by them all, and now they all had a hard trip ahead of them. Suguha was concerned for the young girl, where had she come form? Was someone looking for her? 'Me staying up thinking won't help at all, I should sleep.' She thought.

As Agil sat in the rocking chair by the guest bed, he thought he heard the young girl whisper in her sleep.

"Em...Em...I know you'll..." Silence. The whole house. Silent. That night, everyone ended up sleeping somehow, everyone but Kirito. He stayed up all night, laying in bed holding his two favorite girls in his arms. He whispered out loud , "We'll be ok...all of us." He couldn't say if he was telling someone or himself.

[Morning]

3rd P.O.V~

Before anyone knew it, the sun had come out. They all woke up slowly, surprised when they came to the kitchen, to see a small girl bouncing around the kitchen making breakfast. She wore a violet tunic, lined with black edges and random lines embroidering the chest. Along with this, she had on black leather pants with black strapped on boots. The girl must have only been 5' 3" at most, was carrying on with making food, but stopped when she noticed 9 people staring at her. She quickly started blushing, grabbed at her shoulder length hair, and leaned her head slightly down, hiding her violet eyes.

"Is it that bad?" She asked in an innocent, gentle voice. No one replied to her question. This girl looked nearly dead last night, and now she thought they were worrying about her hair?

"I um...made breakfast. As a thank you for umm, well I'm not sure really." The young girl rambled on.

"You're not sure?" Asuna was the first to speak up.

"Well..." The young girl started, "I don't remember much of yesterday hehe. I know, it's kind of embarrassing. But I figured that if I ended up here, you must have helped me somehow right?"

"You don't remember coming here?" Silica peeped out

"The last thing I remember..." The girl out her fingered to her lips to think, "hmm I think I was with...oh right!" She snapped her finger and her faced perked up. "Where is he?"

"He?" Kirito spoke up, moving to the front of the small crowed. A disappointing look crossed the girls face.

"Yeah, the guy who was with me!" She replied.

"No one was with you. You were on our doorstep and looked like you had just been to hell." Asuna stated, concerned. "First of all, what's your name?" She asked the now pouting girl. The girl perked up at the question and pushed her chest out, pointing her thumb at herself. Smiling she replied,

"The one and only Kira at your service!" Everyone seemed to grow confused at the sudden change in mood. Asuna stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you Kira, I'm Asuna." She stuck her hand out to meet Kira's, but was surprised when she received a huge hug instead.

"My Master taught me that handshakes are for strangers, but anyone who brings someone hurt into there home can't be a stranger, right?"

"Master?" Klein, one of the up until now silent people, spoke up while scratching his head.

"Of course! Haven't any of you had a Master before?" The young girl seemed confused that she had to even explain this.

"No, why would we?" Liz stated.

"I mean, Jedi usually have someone teach them, like a Master." The room became silent. Kira pulled her hand close to her and slowly started shrinking.

'Did I say something wrong?'

"The hell is a Jedi?" Klein spoke, breaking the silence.

"You know, people that use lightsabers. The force." Kira used her hands to mimic her statements as she went on. "Wait..." She slowly clicked yesterdays events, "what..game...am I in?" She asked, puzzled.

"ALfheim Online!" Sugu yelled, as she was the farthest on back.

"Wait...I remember!" Kira pointed her finger to the sky and shouted. She turned from the group of people in front of her and mumbled to herself. The group of friends could only hear parts of it, "wait, I was running with...but then...blue light...attacked...found a house near by...now I'm here." The young girl, after being satisfied with understanding what had happened, turned to face the group again. She put her left hand to the back of her head, and grinning awkwardly said,

"Well, I'm not from this game, yesterday some weird floating guy, who looked like he had some fashion issues, said some blah about how he was our ruler now and I ended up here. Shortly after I was teleported to the forest nearby, some weird, group of people with orange icons attacked me. I couldn't find my weapon so I fought with my hands," -she crunched her knuckles to the statement-"but after only being able to beat half of them, 12 I think? Maybe. I hate counting!" She crossed her arms to the statement. "Anyways, after I beat a few, I had to run. I had started wearing out but they weren't. I ran until I ended up here, and the rest is pretty blank." As she finished, she noticed everyone seemed to be interested. 'And you say I'm not a good story teller', she thought of what to say when she saw her master next. Asuna broke the short silence, filling Kira in on yesterday events involving the monster known at Oberon. The group waited for Kira to freak out, but her reaction sent a chill to their spines. She grinned.

"So, it's still a death game huh? Well, he'll show up soon I know it." She calmly said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'still'? And who is this guy, or Master, or whoever you keep bringing up?" Kirito said, growing frustrated. Why was he so frustrated? He couldn't quite figure it out.

"I play an MMO back in the US on a small Japanese server. I think there are about 400 or so people on it" The brunet began explaining. "We were all trapped in it, and we were told the same basic rules as you were. But, we had no way of getting out. We were just...trapped. The people in this game have been trapped a long time..."

"How- how long?" Agil asked. Saddened look crossed the girl's innocent face, making her look aged beyond her years.

"4, give or take a few months." She quietly responded, cupping her hands.

4 years? How is that possible? Even if it was that small of a server, that still impossible to miss on the news. Unless, it never made it that far.

"It would've been unbearably, and the two I game factions would've killed each other of just for survival, but someone brought them together. A brilliant general, a jedi. My Master." She smiled and blushed slightly as she spoke. "He is the person who made everyone feel like we could survive, that we could win, that we could live. He found me about 3 years ago, living on the streets of some rundown futuristic city. He saved me, and he always will. I know he's here somewhere!" She stood up, hitting her fist into her hand.

"How can you have faith in that?" Sinon asked, confused. "How long will you wait for him to come?"

"Wait?" Kira seemed confused that some girl with cat ears was trying to bring logic into this. "What makes you think I'll be waiting. He'll be here soon, I'm sure!"

*Knock Knock* The room seemed to turn to the door. Asuna stood up and slowly walked to the door. When it opened, all that could be seen was the blinding sun, until a man stepped into the doorway.

"Sorry," -he put his hand to his head, pushing the light grey robe he wore to the side, revealing 2 weapon hilts on his right side, one about a footlong, the other a bit longer. He removed the hood he wore, revealing a man with a clean face (besides the scar across his right cheek) he sported dark brown hair, almost reaching his bright blue eyes.- " have you seen a short girl, about 16ish, kind of annoying. He grinned at his comment. That grin was immediately wiped when a pan hit his square in the face. The room looked toward Kira, who was stomping towards the man. She grabbed to longer silver hilt.

"Are you an idiot! Look how dirty this is." She held the hilt up the the 5' 10" man's face, looking extremely agitated.

"Nice to you too squirt" the man replied, rubbing his nose. "Your aim is getting better though."

The group on onlookers seemed to be extremely confused at this exchange. Asuna, who was still at the door, held her hand towards her home.

"Would you like to come in?"

"I would be grateful." The man replied, bowing before he entered. "So Kira, would you like to introduce me?"

"Yeah!" She turned, bouncing to do so. " This is Asuna, and they are people who I don't know. She pointed to who she was talking to, but looked more concerned with her weapon's dirtied condition.

Crap! We didn't introduce out selves! This was a thought shared by everyone. One by one the group stated their name and in-game specialty. The man seemed interested, never breaking away from the conversation. Once they had all introduced themselves, Yui said, calmly,

"What is your name?" Before he could answer, Kira yelled out,

"This is Jedi Master Emile Carrick! Isn't that right, old man?" She said as she nudged Emile with her elbow.

"That's right. But, what are you doing here exactly?" He asked the smiling girl. When she went to explain, Asuna took the conversation.

"Maybe I should explain, so I can fill you in on the whole story. Like where you are, what's going on-" she was interrupted.

"I'm aware of our location and the situation. I talked to some people outside on my walk here."

"Wait, did they have orange icons floating around here?" Kira asked, pointing to the space above her head.

"Hmm...maybe. They are probably still in the trees I left them in, we could go check."

"In the trees?" Klein asked, confused like most of this whole day.

"Yeah, they tried to jump me. Knocked the bread an old man had given me out of my hands. They didn't give up easy, I almost had to use my weapon on them."-he patted the hilt hanging of the right side of his brown leather belt.-

"You didn't use a weapon!? How did you beat them?" Liz asked, shocked.

"Hehe..." Emile chuckled, then he calmly raised his hand out. Moving his hand up, he made the pan...move? No, float? It floated from his feet to his hands without anything touching it! Everyone froze, shocked. What was the magic he just used? Is it something new to the game?

"Jedi's use what we call the Force," Kira explained, "it's something that is in all objects and living creatures. It binds us, connections one another. Jedi bend it to the will of the user, like such simple things at moving objects."-she waved her hand to the pan.- "It's fairly complicated, but first things first...can someone explain the game that we are in? The basics, rules, goal?" Sugu explained to them the game known as ALO.

"Hmm... I see." -The knight nodded in understanding in the remaining couch he and his student had sat down on.- "So, we need to conquer this land of a mad man?"

"Basically." Sugu replied, nervous at the thought of beating on MMO.

"Well, we need to start preparing first thing tomorrow." He stated, a cold tone in his voice.

"Tomorrow? Not now?" Asuna, the one renowned strategist asked.

"Well, he cannot fight with downed spirits. So for today, we should uncloud our minds, raise our moral, and prepare for the journey ahead of us." The knight raised his head and made his way to the kitchen. The breakfast from earlier was long cold, as the events of the day had taken well after lunch time and even towards dinner.

"First, dinner. Then, we raise our heads!" He said, his figure pointed to the sky. Something about how he talked, his calmness, his confidence, he cause the party of friends to smile, something they had yet to do after hearing those long forgotten bells.

The group of friends all stood up and tried to stay happy. They talked, they ate, they even drank. But after this carried on for awhile. They weren't trying to be happy, they WERE being happy. Maybe, maybe they could beat this game once more, before it beat them. They carried on laughing and being joyous throughout the night, until one by one they each passed out around the house.

Only 3 souls stayed up later then the rest.

[Sometime after midnight]

Kirito P.O.V.~

It was calm that night. I was sleeping peacefully in my room with Yui tightly snuggled between Asuna and I. I woke up to hearing noise outside, people talking to be exact. I carefully pulled myself out of bed and went to the front door of the house, careful not to wake up anyone sleeping around the house. Silently opening the front door, I slipped outside.

'Why am I going outside?' I thought to myself. I walked towards the voices behind the house, but the voices had stopped. The only should I could make out was the crunching and cracking of leaves and branches under my feet. I finally found the source of the noises, 2 silhouettes by a small pond, bathed in the moonlight. The one on the left wore a full robe with hood while sitting down. The right, small figure was standing, holding her hands behind her back, head towards the moon in front of them. I was tempted to leave them alone, but a light voice began to speak, and my curiosity drew me into waiting a bit longer.

"What took you so long to find me?" She received no reply.

"It took a month AND coming to a new world, why so long?" Another space of silence.

"I'm sorry it took so long." The one sitting down finally replied. He spoke in a calm voice, yet sorrow filled his words. How could he show so much from saying so little?

"Where did you even go?" Kira again spoke, continuing to also remain calm while her voice slightly shook. "You told me you had somewhere to go, where I couldn't go." -her head looked down to the lake- "It hurt, it hurt to know there were places where I couldn't go with you." -she spoke quiet with those heavy words. I had started wondering if I should leave, but an urge, no, a need to stay forced me to keep at my spot- "But I'll follow you wherever you go, and I know you had a reason for leaving." -Kira's voice perked up, her head looking back at the moon- "I'm sorry for doubting you Master. I'll go where you say, but I'll follow you if you try to leave. Remember that." With that, she turned and bowed to Emile, who had remainder silent this while time, and with is head covered and facing forward his face was unseen. Before Kira could straighten her back from her pose, the silent man stood up, warping his arms around her. Her face showed that this wasn't something done often, as her eyes where wide facing Emile.

I understood my stay had extended too long, so I silently left the scene. I slipped inside the house, back into my bed with my loving family, wondering what had happened when I left a few minutes ago. After a while, I heard the door creak open, and a lone shadow crossed my vision as I looked behind me. After that, sleep took me away from the world.

[A few minutes earlier]

3rd P.O.V.~

The moon seemed to dance on the lake that the 2 Jedi stood together, one in the arms of the other. The brunette, who was shocked at her master's sudden choice of action, stood wide-eyed, head pushed slightly against his warm body, in the arms of Emile. Her master very rarely showed direct affection, even when it was just them. She hadn't felt like a little kid for a long time, but she was suddenly shifted through time and space to a time when she was unprotected, fragile, scared. Why did she have to feel like this right now, and for such a small action. Maybe because it wasn't a simple action. He never did this, no matter how much she could tell he wanted to.

The way he was taught to be a Jedi was the original style, no emotions to be shown, no personal links to cloud your feelings and judgment. Over his years, as she had learned from him and companions of his, he realized his emotions helped overpower his challenges. Along with this, he also learned how he felt some of his teachings were wrong, though he still believed in the Jedi ways over..the other sides method. When he found her in that alleyway 4 years ago, he saved her, took her under his wing. He taught her the ways of the Jedi in the way that he felt was the proper way, letting some emotions propel her, such as the need to protect, while releasing the ones that would hold her back, as hate and revenge do.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't strip some of his old habits completely, like showing not showing emotions. That's why this hug, in all of its forms, should have been wrong. But why was it so right in her heart? How long had they been standing like this? She realized it had been 2 full minutes. 2 long, warm, minutes. A deep, soft voice broke the silence that had held the conversation.

"I'm sorry..." -he held Kira tightly, keeping her close- "I'm sorry I left. I didn't want to leave you, and I'm sorry it took so long to find you. I'm sorry Kira." He stopped talking after that. Kira understood how much those words truly meant, no matter how short the words were. She wanted to stay like that longer, but knew how hard it was for him to do this. She started pulling away, but was met with a firm grip around her, embracing her. After another moment, he released his arms, letting them move to his Padawan's shoulders. They met eyes, and she saw the moon dace across his pupils like it did the lake. He spoke one more time.

"And there's no place I can go that you don't have the ability to follow." -a small slime crossed his face- "Go inside, I'll be out here meditating if anything is needed." He took a step back, and he and his student bowed to one another.

"Yes, Master." The young girl bounced away, letting a smile overtake her face. The only one at the lake now was Emile. He sat back down, closed his eyes, and thought. He thought until the sun came up, clearing his mind. He let his being relax, letting calmness overtake him. Now, there was a way to beat this game, to leave this trap. How long had he been like this? He had found his Padawan trapped 4 years ago, but when was he stuck? He knew, but the thought was pushed out.

'Clear.' He thought as the moon began to lower. 'I must be clear.' With a long breath, he didn't let another thought float into his mind until the yellow sun rose, covering his view with the light he always adored. He could hear voices slowly rise throughout the house behind him, and to that he rose. He turned front the peaceful lake, his hands held together behind him. As he walked towards the house, he breathed deeply.

'They'll survive. If they have strong hearts, they'll survive.' This final thought passed his eased mind, and he entered the house.